Curly Sue

Curly Sue
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Hughes
Produced by	John Hughes
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Jim Belushi Kelly Lynch Alisan Porter
Music by	Georges Delerue
Cinematography	Jeffrey L. Kimball
Editing by	Peck Prior Harvey Rosenstock
Studio	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	October 25, 1991
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25,000,000[1]
Box office	$33,691,313

Curly Sue is a 1991 American comedy-drama family film starring Jim Belushi, Alisan Porter, Kelly Lynch and Steve Carell in his film debut. The film was written and directed by John Hughes in his final film as a director. Its contains music composed by Georges Delerue, along with the end title song "You Never Know" performed by Ringo Starr.^[2]

Plot

Bill Dancer and his young companion Curly Sue are the archetypal homeless folks with hearts of gold. Their scams are aimed not at turning a profit, but at getting enough to eat. After moving from Detroit to Chicago, the duo cons the rich and beautiful divorce lawyer Grey Ellison into believing she backed her Mercedes into Bill, in hopes of a free meal. When Grey accidentally collides with Bill for real, she insists on putting the two up for the night, even over the objections of her snotty fiance Walker . After a confrontation with Bill exposing the truth of the con, Grey lets them stay for as long as they need to when she understands the precarious position the homeless pair are in. One night, Bill tells Grey that he's not Sue's father, he met Sue's mother one night in Florida. After Sue's mother died, Bill raised her himself, growing to love her like his own, thus when they lost their home and money, Bill couldn't find it in his heart to give Sue up and put her into an orphanage, so he took Sue with him. Grey, thinking Bill has been neglecting and abusing Sue by using her in his cons and scams, suggests Sue stay with her when he leaves, but this only angers Bill, who says that after all the years he's looked after her, if he gave up Sue now, people would make fun of her for being on welfare. He tells her that he is not neglecting or abusing Sue; he cares about Sue and his cons are to provide for Sue. As they get to know each other, Bill becomes convinced that this is where Curly Sue belongs - in a home, cared for by someone that can give her the advantages that his homeless, nomadic existence lacks. He strives to give her the life she deserves, altering his own life to meet those standards.

Cast

• Jim Belushi as Bill Dancer
• Kelly Lynch as Grey Ellison
• Alisan Porter as Curly Sue
• John Getz as Walker McCormick
• Fred Thompson as Bernard Oxbar
• Cameron Thor as Maitre d'
• Branscombe Richmond as Albert
• Steve Carell as Tesio (credited as Steven Carell)
• Burke Byrnes as Dr. Maxwell

Release

The film debuted at No. 2 at the box office^[3] and grossed $33,691,313 in the U.S.^[4] Warner Home Video released it on DVD on June 1, 2004 with commentary and an introduction by Alisan Porter as special features.

Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. Leonard Maltin gave it one and a half stars out of four in his Movie Guide, and called it "A John Hughes formula movie where the formula doesn't work".^[5] The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide called it "Gruesomely sentimental and manipulative".^[6] Nigel Andrews of the Financial Times declared, "John Hughes here graduates from the most successful comedy in film history to scripting and directing a large piece of non-biodegradable tosh."^[6] Curly Sue holds a 14% rating according to Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Curly Sue

• Curly Sue at the Internet Movie Database
• Curly Sue at the TCM Movie Database
• Curly Sue at allmovie
• Curly Sue at Rotten Tomatoes