My Girl

‘Life isn’t just about death, Harry. Don’t ignore the living’

My Girl is about an 11 year old girl named Vada (Anna Chlumsky) who is obsessed with death as she is raised in a funeral parlour  (undertakers) with her father who doesn’t exactly share feelings with anyone, but not including the relationship with the funeral make up artist (Jamie Lee Curtis) who desperatly wants to be that mother figure to Vada. Vada, however has a friend named Thomas J who is a quiet, light haired loner who is allergic to everything, played by a then cute, baby faced eleven year old Macualay Culkin (before all the drugs and singing songs dedicated to pizza).

I find that My Girl is the type of film that you can’t help but to actually be in their position. It may be a 22 year old film, but what most 90s movies are good at doing is taking your heart, and your immunity to sad films, ripping it up and jumping on it. It’s as if the serious problems, such as her mother dying in childbirth and having to see dead bodies everyday, including a friend who is allergic to everything is put through clever directors to make it look as if it is based around something through an 11 year old’s eyes. If you haven’t seen this film yet, but even if you have, you would need several boxes of tissues because it is so sad. 

What I don’t particuarly like from the film is the relationship between Vada and her English teacher. That is somewhat creepy. There is a sequel and at one point I got round to watching My Girl 2, and I hated it because there was one need, following the long line of films which don’t need a sequel from their independent poignance but have one anyway from money measures. I also like the representation of mood rings which concludes to the suprising ending which is different from other films in Culkin’s cute days.

4/5