My Girl (1991)

What makes My Girl special is how it treats childhood like real life: funny, awkward, romantic in that first-crush way, and shadowed by questions kids are rarely allowed to ask out loud. Howard Zieff gives the story a warm, sunlit 1972 glow, but the movie’s heart is Anna Chlumsky, who plays Vada with such sharp humor and raw honesty that you feel like you’re eavesdropping on a real kid trying to make sense of the world. Her bond with Macaulay Culkin’s Thomas J. is tender and believable, the kind of friendship that’s goofy one minute and quietly profound the next, and Dan Aykroyd grounds it all with a father who loves deeply even when he doesn’t know how to say it. Fair warning: it doesn’t dodge grief, and it can hit hard, but if you’re open to a comedy-drama with genuine integrity and a big, bruised heart, this one earns the tears it invites.

My Girl wants to be a tender coming-of-age story about a kid growing up around death, first crushes, and the confusing mess of early adolescence, and it mostly aims straight for your heart. The problem is it can feel a bit engineered to make you cry, with syrupy moments, uneven pacing, and a screenplay that sometimes skips real nuance in favor of big emotional beats. If you’re allergic to sentimental 90s tearjerkers or you want a sharper, more grounded take on grief, this may come off as manipulative rather than moving. Still, Anna Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin are genuinely charming, and when the film slows down and lets the characters breathe, it earns some of its warmth.