Curly Sue (1991)

Just what I expected

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Okay I wanted to like this movie but it was just so convoluted. I didn't buy the non real dead broke father taking care of the baby that wasn't his(supposebly). The hot shot beautiful lawyer being oblivious and sympathetic. The Pair of the daughter and father weren't that charming and the life they were living was a total disaster. What I did like about James Character was that he straight to the point and told her the truth and wanted to leave. He did care about his daughter but not much I feel because of the disastrous life they were living pointed out by the lawyer( Lynch). I don't believe the lawyer would be able to pull such strings on the one case she was mishandling and black mail the husband of the divorce. The ending was very sudden and didn't really get to the honest part. How would the family work if you can call it that. I get that the movie is suppose to be a romantic comedy but it touches upon a sad reality that is quite common, and in that I don't see the laughing matter.

Bill Dancer (Jim Belushi) and Curly Sue are homeless drifters running little scams to get by day to day. He has been taking care of her since her mother left her as a baby. Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch) is a driven divorce lawyer. Bill pretends to get run over by Grey and she gives them a meal. Her cold-hearted fiancée Walker McCormick stops her from doing more despite her falling for little Curly Sue. Later, she actually truly hits him with her car. The two stays at her apartment as the trio grows closer together.Not everything is gold when it comes to John Hughes. Sometimes the formula is too formulaic. I'm good with the sugary sweet little girl. The slapstick is way too much. It's trying desperately to be Curly Sue's namesake. It's almost schizophrenic as it goes from the silliest slapstick to the most emotionally manipulative tear jerker. While I buy Grey's love for Curly, it's hard to buy the same for Grey and Bill. This needs more reality and less formula. It need less silliness and Bill should probably leave at the end.

Curly Sue feels like a peaceful feel of nostalgia, although it was released in 1991, months after Terminator 2 and during the second season of Seinfeld it feels like a 80's film. Belushi's style of humor is always pretty fun and his circumstances are not depressing in the least, as a drifter with the lovable, sassy and amusing 9 or 10-year old daughter, the title character who was designed as an updated Shirley Temple. But in this a gag that occurs several times was his being knocked in the face, the ploy that was first used when the impeccable con artists meet the female lead (Kelly Lynch) who plays a (seemingly) cold, career oriented woman to whom they con a bill of fare off of and she turns out to be very caring, but their relationship is hindered by her snooty, contemptible fiancée (character actor John Getz). Steve Carrell made his film debut as an upscale restaurant employee. The production feels like a 80's era Hughes comedy, but devoid of much of the racy content. The films point seems to be the value of love and friends "quality of life" over materialism and money.

I had heard some not-so-charitable things about Curly Sue, and after also seeing the negative rating on IMDb, I was differing whether to see it. You see Curly Sue I have seen dismissed as cheesy, overly sentimental, predictable, slow and so forth. Curly Sue is not perfect by all means, but I actually did not see what was so awful about it.I agree the story can be predictable, and the film can be slow at times. I also felt Curly Sue was slightly overlong, but that's probably just me.However, I did not find it overly sentimental really. Sentimental it is, but overly so no. The film is very heartfelt and poignant, yet has a humorous and light-hearted tone to it. Curly Sue also is beautifully filmed, has a lovely soundtrack and the direction is solid enough. Even the acting wasn't too bad. Alison Porter is very endearing and cute in the title role, while Kelly Lynch is sexy and appealing and James Belushi is very watchable as the bum with a heart, and is also somewhat touching.Overall, has its faults but is both funny and touching. I liked it, a lot. 7/10 Bethany Cox