Anna Chlumsky Movies
Though fourth-billed in her first film, My Girl (1991), 9-year-old advertising model Anna Chlumsky was clearly the star. Playing a mortician's daughter learning about life and love in the early 1970s, Anna made one of the more auspicious movie debuts in recent memory; she also administered the first screen kiss to juvenile superstar Macauley Culkin, an event which garnered as much press coverage as Shirley Temple's first cinematic smooch in Miss Annie Rooney (1942). Since My Girl, Anna has not aggressively pursued a career, showing up in films evidently only when she and her parents feel like it. Anna Chlumsky's follow-up films have included My Girl 2 (1993), Trading Mom (1994) and Golddiggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995), in which the 14-year-old actress performed her first stunt work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideIn this cheerful, lightweight comedy, excruciatingly clumsy, disorganized, and messy Uncle Buck Russell (John Candy) becomes the screens most unlikely babysitter since Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty. While their parents are away, eight-year old Miles (Macaulay Culkin), six-year old Maizy (Gaby Hoffman) and their teen-aged sister, Tia (Jean Kelly) are left in the care of Buck. Surprisingly, the very inept Uncle Buck entertains the younger children who come to love him and earns the respect of Tia when he rescues her from her worthless boyfriend. However, in doing so, Buck nearly loses his long-time girlfriend Chanice (Amy Madigan). John Candy is delightful in the leading role giving a touching and notable comic performance. Directed by John Hughes in his typical broad style, this youth-oriented comedy is perhaps the best role of John Candy's regrettably brief career. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Candy, Amy Madigan, (more)
Howard Zieff directed this comedy-drama about the emotional awakening of a young girl in a small Pennsylvania town during the summer of 1972. Anna Chlumsky plays eleven-year-old Vada, a quiet child living with her widowed father Harry Dultenfuss (Dan Aykroyd), a local mortician who prepares bodies in his basement. Vada feels responsible for the death of her mother, who died giving birth to her, and lives in an emotional cocoon, her only friend being a personable local boy, Thomas J. Sennett (Macauly Culkin), who suffers from allergies. Like Vada, Harry keeps to himself, until a freelance make-up artist, Shelly DeVoto (Jamie Lee Curtis), comes to town and gets a job working with Harry. Shelly and Harry fall in love and Vada feels threatened by her presence. But then a personal tragedy forces Vada to come out of her emotional shell. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Macaulay Culkin, Anna Chlumsky, (more)
In this sequel to My Girl, Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky) is now thirteen and at the crossroads of adolescence, beginning to question her past. Her father Harry (Dan Aykroyd) is now married to Shelly (Jamie Lee Curtis) and preoccupied with an expectant child. Vada feels left out and decides to write about her mother -- whom she knows nothing about -- for a school project. Vada wants to travel to Los Angeles during spring break to find out more about her mother by interviewing old friends and acquaintances. Harry is reluctant to let her go but finally agrees when he arranges for her to stay with her Uncle Phil (Richard Masur), who lives in L.A. with his girlfriend Rose (Christine Ebersole) and Rose's son Nick (Austin O'Brien), who happens to be the same age as Vada. Together Vada and Nick travel all over Los Angeles, uncovering revelations about Vada's mother and her past. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, Anna Chlumsky, (more)
The Mommy Market originated as a fey satirical novel by Nancy Brelis. In the film version, Anna Chlumsky plays the oldest of three siblings who are fed up with their impossible mother (Sissy Spacek). Through methods too complicated to go into here, the kids are able to make Mom completely disappear. They then head to the local "Mommy Market" to select a new parent. Spacek returns to play three entirely different characters, an impressive chunk of versatility indeed. Far more impressive than the film itself, which suffers from lackluster direction (by Tia Brelis, daughter of author Nancy Brelis) and a threadbare budget. Test-marketed under its original title in 1992, The Mommy Market fell flat with audiences; it was reissued with alterations as Trading Mom in 1994, only to plunge into obscurity for a second time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sissy Spacek, Anna Chlumsky, (more)
A teen from Los Angeles and her recently widowed mother move back to the family's Pacific Northwest home in 1980 to try to reassemble their lives. Young teen Beth at first hates country living, but then she meets the outspoken, defiant Jody and the two become fast friends. Jody has quite a reputation and has had to deal with the shame of having an alcoholic mother. Beth and Jody both adore Winnie the Pooh, and share an adventurous spirit. This spirit gets them into trouble when they decide to go explore the mysterious caves beneath Bear Mountain. Legend has it that in one of those caves, a very lucrative, 100-year-old lost gold mine can be found. This adventure chronicles Beth and Jody's experiences beneath the great mountain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Ricci, Anna Chlumsky, (more)
When Wanda (Patricia Heaton) and Sarah's (Meredith Baxter) mother dies and the estranged sisters inherit the family pecan grove, their conflicting plans for the future of the property are complicated by the appearance of a stranger claiming the land as her own in Arthur Allan Seidelman's tear-jerking drama. Despite Sarah's best efforts to keep the pecan grove in the family, a dark secret drives Wanda to pursue the prospect of selling the land. As the conflicted sisters struggle to find a common ground, the discovery of an elderly woman named Lilly Cooper (Della Reese) who claims the land prompts the curiosity of Sarah's teenage daughter (Anna Chlumsky), who becomes determined to learn the secret of the mysterious squatter's past. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meredith Baxter, Patricia Heaton, (more)
This fact-based TV movie stars John Ritter as Ed Chandler, whose life is torn asunder when his daughter Missy (Anna Chlumsky) is diagnosed with cancer. The nature of Missy's illness obliges Ed to spend many hours away from his job as a car salesman to commiserate with her daughter's doctors at the hospital. Then one day, Ed shows up at work to be coldly informed that he has been fired--and there is no one to whom he can go to plead his case. The plight of the Chandler family ultimately leads to the creation of the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows persons up to six weeks' leave from their jobs when their family members are suffering from serious illnesses. Telecast by CBS on January 21, 1997, Child's Wish (cable title: Fighting for Justice made headlines when it first aired because of the appearance of President Bill Clinton in the final scene--the first time that a sitting President ever starred as "himself" in a dramatic film (as well as the first such scene to be lensed on location in the Oval Office!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alex Orr's dark comedy Blood Car stars Mike Brune as Archie Andrews, a mild-mannered elementary teacher attempting to beat the high cost of gasoline (forty bucks a gallon) by creating a car that runs on something other than traditional petrol. He makes large purchases of wheatgrass from a young store clerk (Anna Chlumsky) who has a crush on the teacher. However, when he discovers that his new invention runs best on human blood, Archie suddenly becomes involved with a woman who does not share his or the store-clerks environmental beliefs. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Brune, Anna Chlumsky, (more)
The run-up to war makes for curious rivalries and uneasy alliances in this political satire from director and co-screenwriter Armando Iannucci. Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) is a minor minister of international development with the British government who, in the midst of a radio interview, casually tells a reporter "war is unforeseeable." However, the prime minister is being pressured to commit British troops to support American forces in the Middle East, and communications director Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) goes into a tirade when the press turns Foster's passing comment into a major news story. Foster becomes an unwitting media figure, and he and his personal communications director, Judy (Gina McKee), are joined by political damage control expert Toby (Chris Addison) as they're sent to Washington, D.C., to meet with American political and military leaders. Despite Judy's and Toby's help, Foster displays a stubborn inability to say what he's supposed to, and he finds himself caught in the middle between pro-war factions -- including diplomat Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy) and State Department official Linton Barwick (David Rasche) -- and those who oppose the conflict, including Pentagon attaché General Miller (James Gandolfini) and activist Liza (Anna Chlumsky). As if matters weren't already complicated enough, Liza used to date Toby when they were college students, and Gen. Miller was once involved with Clarke, adding bitter romantic history to an already rocky playing field. In the Loop received its North American premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, (more)
- Starring:
- Scott Porter, Alexis Bledel, (more)
- Starring:
- Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Hopkins, (more)


















