My Girl

Vada Sultenfuss is an eleven-year-old who talks about death like other kids talk about recess. She lost her mother and lives with her widowed father, who runs the family funeral home, which feeds her curiosity and anxiety. Vada has a crush on her allergy-prone best friend Thomas J., and she also idolizes her English teacher, attending a summer poetry class to impress him. When Shelly DeVoto arrives to work at the funeral parlor and begins to charm the Sultenfuss household, Vada has to cope with shifting loyalties, surprising affection, and the hard edges of growing up, all while trying to make sense of loss without giving anything away about what happens later.

Released in 1991, the film was directed by Howard Zieff and written by Laurice Elehwany. It stars Anna Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin, with Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Richard Masur rounding out the principal cast, and it helped define its creators as voices in coming-of-age storytelling.

The movie did solid business at the box office for its genre and era, performing well enough to raise the profiles of its young leads and to justify a sequel. Its commercial reception matched its appeal to family audiences and viewers who liked gentle, melancholic drama with moments of laughter.

Over the years My Girl has been remembered as a 1990s staple about childhood grief and first love, often referenced in discussions of tearjerker films from that decade. The chemistry between the leads and a few particularly emotional scenes kept it in popular conversation, and it remains a frequent recommendation for people looking for a bittersweet family movie.

Critics generally responded positively, reflected in solid audience ratings, praising the performances and the balance of humor and sadness. Major themes include mourning and memory, friendship and innocence, and how families cope when everyday life collides with grief, presented in a way that mixes lighthearted moments with heartfelt emotion.