34 Years Later Ago: “My Girl” Was Released & Remains a Bittersweet Touchstone of 1990s Coming-of-Age Cinema
This week marks 34 years since My Girl, the tender and tear-jerking drama that introduced the world to an 11-year-old Anna Chlumsky and a bowl-cut Macaulay Culkin, first arrived in U.S. theaters on November 27, 1991.
You can find My Girl on Amazon HERE.
Directed by Howard Zieff and written by Laurice Elehwany, My Girl became an instant classic for an entire generation, blending gentle 1970s nostalgia, first love, and the harsh realities of childhood grief in a way few family films had dared before. Set during the summer of 1972 in Madison, Pennsylvania, the movie follows hypersensitive, hypochondriac Vada Sultenfuss (Chlumsky), who lives with her widowed funeral-director father Harry (Dan Aykroyd) and senile grandmother (Ann Nelson). Vada spends her days hanging out with her best friend Thomas J. Sennett (Culkin), an allergy-prone boy who is secretly in love with her, while grappling with guilt over her mother’s death in childbirth and her budding feelings for her rebellious English teacher (Griffin Dunne).
The film’s most infamous moment – Thomas J.’s sudden death from an allergic reaction to bee stings and the subsequent funeral scene in which Vada sobs, “He can’t see without his glasses!” – left audiences reaching for tissues in droves. That single line, improvised by Chlumsky on set, is still quoted, memed, and cried over three decades later.
My Girl was a modest box-office success in 1991, earning $121 million worldwide on a $17 million budget and finishing as the 12th highest-grossing film of the year, remarkable for a drama with no special appearances by Jamie Lee Curtis as a compassionate cosmetician who falls for Harry. Critics praised the performances, especially the natural chemistry between Chlumsky and Culkin, both of whom were appearing in only their second major film role (Culkin, of course, fresh off the mega-success of Home Alone the previous Christmas).
The movie spawned a lesser-known 1994 sequel, My Girl 2, which followed an older Vada to Los Angeles, but it failed to recapture the original’s magic. Still, the first film endured. Its soundtrack – featuring The Temptations’ title track along with classics like “Saturday in the Park” and “Bad Moon Rising” – helped cement its 1970s vibe, while lines like “Where are his glasses? He was wearing his glasses!” became cultural shorthand for childhood trauma.
Over the years, My Girl has been re-evaluated as one of the rare children’s films willing to confront death head-on. Mental health advocates have noted how accurately it portrayed childhood anxiety and complicated grief, while film scholars point to its influence on later coming-of-age stories such as Bridge to Terabithia and The Florida Project.
Anna Chlumsky, who largely stepped away from acting after the sequel to attend college, returned to the spotlight with her Emmy-nominated work in Veep, and still speaks fondly of the film that made her famous. Macaulay Culkin, whose career took a very different trajectory, has occasionally referenced Thomas J. with affectionate humor in interviews and on social media.
On this 34th anniversary, My Girl continues to stream regularly (currently on Netflix in many countries) and still reduces first-time viewers – and repeat offenders – to tears. As Vada herself says in the film’s final moments, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” For millions who grew up with My Girl, that joy is the memory of a perfectly preserved summer of mood rings, bicycle rides, and the heartbreaking realization that childhood doesn’t last forever.
You can find My Girl on Amazon HERE.
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