LITTLE GIRL GROWING UP: MAN ON THE MOON, MY GIRL
doesn't make the mistake of making this pastoral and showing off the scenery just to show off. And except possibly Billy and his father, the other characters are simply drawn without becoming stereotypes. And all the performers make those characters work.
This was Witherspoon's first film, and it's startling how natural she is here. Wingfield's script is less dependent on dialogue than behavior, meaning Witherspoon has to do a lot of acting with her face, and communicate emotions subtly rather than in big displays. She's up to that admirably, from the moment she first becomes attracted to Court, to how she registers the tragic plot twist, to the look on her face when she decides to reconcile with Maureen. Warfield and London haven't had big careers since this film, and for the life of me, I can't understand why; both are appealingly natural, and are convincing teens in love. Waterston and Harper are playing familiar roles, but though they hit a few sentimental noters, make the familiar work (Harper in particular is a little more open than she usually is). There's even nice work in smaller parts from Strickland as a woman who's seen too much (and her scenes with London have the appealing sense of mother and son who've, by circumstance, become friends), and Mitchum, grandson of Robert Mitchum, who's inherited some of his grandfather's sleepy-eyed insolence. Despite some lapses into sentimentality, MAN IN THE MOON is not only a great girl's coming-of-age story, but also proof that simple doesn't necessarily mean backwards.
MY GIRL, on the other hand, is set in 1972 Pennsylvania. The hero of this story is Vada (Anna Chlumsky), an 11 year old girl who lives with her father Harry (Dan Akyroyd) and her dotty grandmother (Ann Nelson). Vada's mother died while giving birth to her, and Vada thinks she killed her mother. Harry, who's a funeral director who works out of his house, has become wrapped up in his work and has never confronted Vada's discomfort. And living among corpses, and seeing death at a young age, is also a little freaky. It's no wonder, then, that Vada is a hypochondriac, who's constantly going to Dr. Welty (Peter Michael Goetz) about some imaginary ailment she has.
In other ways, however, Vada is a normal 11 year old. She likes going out riding with her best and only friend Thomas J. (Macauley Culkin), a boy who's allergic to everything. She
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