My Girl

My Girl is a 1991 American comedy-drama film directed by Howard Zieff and written by Laurice Elehwany. The film, starring Macaulay Culkin and Anna Chlumsky in her feature film debut, depicts the coming-of-age of a young girl who faces many different emotional highs and lows. Also starring Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis.

A sequel, My Girl 2, was released in 1994.

In the summer of 1972, in the town of Madison, Pennsylvania, Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky) struggles through changes in her life. She is a tomboy on the verge of adolescence. Her father, Harry Sultenfuss (Dan Aykroyd), is an awkward widower who does not understand her, so he constantly ignores her. His profession as a funeral director, for which the Sultenfuss' residence serves as a funeral home, has led Vada to develop an obsession with death. She also lives with, and tends to, her ill grandmother, "Gramoo" (Ann Nelson), who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and whose wandering mind likewise affects her. Harry's brother Phil (Richard Masur), who lives nearby, also stops by frequently to help them out.

Vada hangs out with Thomas J. Sennett (Macaulay Culkin), an unpopular boy her age who is allergic to "everything." They soon become best friends, but the other girls tease the two as being more than just friends. He accompanies her twice to the doctor's office, where her doctor assures her that she is not sick (her living in a funeral home has also made her a hypochondriac), and that she has no chicken bone stuck in her throat.

Vada's summer begins well. She befriends Shelly DeVoto (Jamie Lee Curtis), the new make-up artist at her father's funeral home, who provides her with some much needed guidance. She is also infatuated with her teacher, Mr. Bixler (Griffin Dunne), and strives to become a writer by attending an adult writing class he is teaching. While she steals money from a cookie jar in Shelly’s trailer to cover the cost of the class, and while her writing style lacks maturity, she learns valuable lessons from Mr. Bixler and her classmates. When advised to write about what's in her heart, she reveals a fear that she may have killed her mother, who died shortly after giving birth to her.

Harry and Shelly start dating, which begins to affect Vada's attitude toward Shelly. When Harry takes Shelly to a bingo game, Vada brings Thomas J. along to disrupt it. On the fourth of July, when Shelly's ex-husband, Danny, shows up, Vada hopes he will take her back. Vada finds it hard to accept that her father has found love again, and is even more in shock when they announce their engagement at a carnival. She contemplates running away with Thomas J..

Vada is also seeing change within herself, screaming after discovering she is "hemorrhaging". Shelly convinces her that her first period is a completely natural process, but as she realizes this only occurs with girls, she does not want to see Thomas J., who happens to come by shortly afterward. A few days later, though, they are sitting together near a weeping willow tree by a lake, where they share an innocent first kiss.

One day in the woods, Vada and Thomas J. stumble across a beehive and decide to knock it down. While doing so, she loses her mood ring, and they look for it. The search is cut short, as bees come swarming out of the hive and force them to run. Thomas J. later returns by himself and finds the ring, but he suddenly gets stung by the bees from the damaged hive and dies from an allergic reaction.

Harry is left to deliver the tragic news to Vada; it leaves her so devastated that she does not open up to anyone for a few days. Right before the funeral begins, Shelly tells Harry to talk to her, but he merely tells her that the funeral is starting. This makes Shelly angry, seeing that he does not fully understand the grief Vada is experiencing, and that he is always putting his work before his daughter whenever she needs him. Harry explains that he tries to spend time with his daughter, but everytime he tries, he gets another call that someone else has died for him to work on. Shelly says she understands, but tells him that his undertaker work is still blinding his relationship with her.

As Vada attends Thomas J.'s funeral, her pain and emotions become so strong that she runs away. She is then further crushed upon seeing Mr. Bixler with his new fiancée, who are both heading to the funeral. She resigns herself to the weeping willow tree, where she spends the rest of the day reflecting on what has happened. She eventually returns home, much to everyone's relief, including Shelly, whom she starts to accept as her future stepmother.

Vada's grief manages to mend the rift between her and Harry. She learns that her mother's death wasn't her fault; Harry explains to her that such things can happen without explanation. Toward the end of summer, they see Mrs. Sennett, who still struggles with her son's death. She gives Vada her mood ring back (which now has turned into blue, instead of the usual black), which Thomas J. found, and Vada gives her some comfort. On the last day of the writing class, she reads a poem expressing her sadness over the loss of her best friend.

Dan Aykroyd as Harry Sultenfuss: Vada's father and the manager of Sultenfuss' funeral parlor in Madison, Pennsylvania.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelly DeVoto: The new make-up artist at the funeral home. She is an experienced cosmetologist from Detroit, Michigan and later Harry's fiancée.

Macaulay Culkin as Thomas J. Sennett: A fragile young boy who is allergic to "everything." He is also Vada's friend and neighbor.

Anna Chlumsky as Vada Sultenfuss: The central character. A tomboyish girl, full of medical issues, including a chicken bone lodged in her throat.

Richard Masur as Phil Sultenfuss: Harry's brother and Vada's uncle. He works with Harry and gives him advice when Harry starts dating Shelly.

Griffin Dunne as Mr. Jake Bixler: Vada's fifth grade teacher whom she has a crush on. He teaches an adult poetry writing class during the summer.

Ann Nelson as Gramoo Sultenfuss: Vada's absent-minded grandmother and Harry and Phil's mother. She suffers from Alzheimer's disease and spends a majority of the time in a chair in the living room.