MY GIRL 2
US, 1994, 99 minutes, Colour.
Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Chlumsky, Austin O’ Brien, Richard Masur, Christine Ebersole, J.D. Souther, Angeline Ball, Aubrey Morris, Gerrit Graham.
Directed by Howard Zieff.
The original My Girl was released in 1991 to great success. Family audiences enjoyed it very much. Part of the charm and effect was the presence of Anna Chlumsky as Vada, a young girl, her mother having died when she was born, being brought up by her undertaker father (Dan Aykroyd). Part of the complications of the original was her father remarrying. His new wife is played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Her mother’s brother, Richard Masur, is also an influence.
In My Girl 2, the advertising tagline summed it up: There’s being a kid. There’s being an adult. And there’s that year in between. This is Vada’s year in between.
While Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis appear at the beginning of the film, they are absent for most of it, reappearing at the end when the pregnant Jamie Lee Curtis has given birth. This time Vada goes to Los Angeles to seek out her uncle – and to do a class paper on somebody important who they have never met and who did significant things. She has chosen her mother. This means not only visiting her uncle, discovering her cousin (Austin O’ Brien) and her uncle’s partner (Christine Ebersole) but also going to interview people who knew her mother. At the end, there is some home-film footage of her mother – which Vada watches with great joy. Her mother sings Charles Chaplin’s “Smile” to sentimental effect.
The film was directed by Howard Zieff, director of a number of family comedies including Some Kind of Wonderful.
(One of the big hits about the original film was the presence of Macaulay Culkin – who died at the end of the film.)
1.The popularity of the original film? The family audience? Young girls? The same audience for the sequel? With the same success?
2.The Pennsylvania settings, the ordinary town, home, the undertaker’s, school? The contrast with Los Angeles – and the film giving a panorama of all the sights of Los Angeles? Homes, garages, police precincts …? The countryside outside Los Angeles? The musical score?
3.The title, the focus on Vada? Her relationship with her father? With her dead mother?
4.Vada at her age, talking about boys, her girlfriend and their chats, the boys in class? In class, the discussion about Dylan Thomas’s poetry and her response? The challenge of death? The assignment, her choosing her mother because she had never met her? The discussions with the teacher and his sympathetic attitude?
5.Her relationship with her father, his undertaking work? His eccentricities? Shelly being pregnant, the bonds between Vada and Shelly? Tensions but good relationships? Shelly’s pregnancy, Harry asking his daughter to change her room? Their going out to the bowling alley – unsuccessfully to discuss this? The buying of the wallpaper? The bonds with Shelly and discussions about her mother with her, the passport, the photos? Shelly’s suggestion that she go to Los Angeles to find out more about her mother? Her father’s reaction? Seeing her off? Vada’s concern about the birth of the baby?
6.Vada on the plane, arriving in New York, Nick and her surprise? The taxis, the rush of Los Angeles life? Meeting her uncle, his work in the garage? Meeting Rose, her being genial? Accepted into the house, the rooms, meals, conversations?
7.Vada’s quest to find out more about her mother, her discussions with her uncle? Her discussions with Nick, his obtuseness, playing tricks on her (pretending to throw the ring into the tar pits)? His accompanying her, interrupting the police officer? The visit to the police officer, his talk, reticence about the law, the second visit and his giving in and giving information? The discussions with the authors, with the old artist, with the woman friend? The accumulation of information – but Vada still trying to understand? The visit to Jeffrey Pommeroy, his being frank with her, the story of the relationship, her mother as an actress, performances? Jeffrey not wanting to marry and to have a family? Her mother wanting children? The home movie, the vivacity of her mother, performance, singing “Smile”? The tear, a satisfying experience for Vada? Her feeling that she had got some kind of grasp of her mother?
8.The return to Pennsylvania, the happy reunion, the birth of the baby? The possibility of her doing her assignment? Her understanding her mother?
9.The subplot with Phil and Rose, at work in the garage, the jealousies, Doctor Halburn and his flirting, bringing the gift, the two children present – and the forcing of Phil to propose to Rose?
10.An engaging film of the 90s – but the 1970s setting (with the pictures of Richard Nixon and the ironic comments about his role as president and what happened to him that year)?
