“My Girl” was the first film for newcomer Anna Chlumsky, and she puts the other, more seasoned actors, to shame. She plays Vada Sultenfuss, the eleven-year-old daughter of a widowed undertaker. Their home is the upper portion of the funeral parlor her father owns, and the bodies are embalmed in the basement. It’s no wonder, then, that Vada has a fear and a fascination with death, especially as she lives with the worry that she caused her own mother’s death.
Her mother died shortly after childbirth, and Vada’s grandmother came to live in the home and take care of her. Now stricken with Alzheimer’s, Grandmother only has rare moments of lucidity which she uses to belt out Broadway tunes. With her father occupied with his work, Vada feels adrift, and often comes down with the symptoms of the people who have died and are now in her basement. She even, at one point, believes herself to have prostate cancer.
Enter Shelly, the flamboyant make-up artist (Jamie Lee Curtis). She needs a job, and while she wasn’t expecting her clients to be dead, she takes the position and does a great job. Mr. Sultenfuss (Dan Ackroyd) is enchanted by his unconventional employee, to Vada’s great disgust. The only person she can turn to is her best friend, Thomas J., (Macaulay Culkin) who happens to be allergic to everything. Together they explore the world and try to make sense of it, at least, until Thomas J. has to go home for dinner.
This coming-of-age film covers it all, from pubescent angst to unrequited love for an older man, to the tragedy of yet another death. Vada has to come face to face with her fears and understand that life holds many promises, and she can’t spend all her time in fear if she wants to experience the full wonder that surrounds her.
This film is rated PG.
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