CURLY SUE. Directed, written and produced by John Hughes; starring Jim Belushi, Alisan Porter and Kelly Lynch.
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Five minutes into Curly Sue, you can predict virtually everything that will happen in the rest of the movie. That predictability, in and of itself, wouldn't be so very terrible, if the predicted action were played out with some style or flair.
Alas, though, it is not. The plot (such as it is) cries out for breakneck, screwball-comedy pacing. Instead, we have positively glacial movement.
Sue (Porter) and dad(?)/guardian Bill (Belushi) are a team of nomadic con artists who stumble into the life of an unimaginably rich, cold-hearted lawyer named Grey (Lynch).
Presto! Bill starts thinking about putting down roots (although he still casts a few longing looks at freight trains bound for out of town, just to keep up an image of suspense). Grey starts wearing her hair differently and being nice to her clients. Sue, to give her credit, at least tries to stay in character.
Of course, this isn't really too difficult, since her character, and all the others as well, are uniformly one-dimensional. Actually, that's the best you can say about them, because they're often maddeningly inconsistent as well.
Most of the movie's scenes are aimed at making Porter produce one of her adorable smiles. Sure, the kid's got a cute smile, but that's not much substance for 90 minutes of movie.
Children somewhat younger than Porter (say, 6-8-ish) may enjoy isolated scenes in Curly Sue, such as Sue demonstrating her card-shuffling prowess, or Sue taking a swim in a big bathtub with an inner tube and umbrella. But there's so much dead space in between, it would be hard for even the most uncritical of child moviegoers to give Curly Sue a thumbs-up.
November 20, 1991