Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

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Parents' Guide to

Curly Sue

By Randy White, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Edgy material isn't a great fit for youngest viewers.

Movie PG 1991 102 minutes
Curly Sue Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 5 parent reviews

M T.
M T. Adult
February 18, 2018
age 12+
Used GD word
erik H.
erik H. Parent of 13-year-old
August 26, 2016
age 18+

really?

Way too much gratuitous language. GD about 10 times, and lots of others, typical Hollywood immoral crap. Totally unnecessary. This is not a war movie and it not the down and out with the language.

This title has:

Too much swearing
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Bill (James Belushi) and his daughter Curly Sue arrive in Detroit, broke and homeless. The two immediately set out to scam for food and lodging. Their first target is Grey (Kelly Lynch), a cruel lawyer who isn't married and has no children. When Bill gets himself bumped by Grey's car, the con artists are invited into the lawyer's fabulous home, where they quickly set up a con. Grey discovers that Curly Sue can't read and takes the girl under her wing. When Grey's boyfriend calls social services, Bill and Sue's plan is put in jeopardy.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5 ):
Kids say (2 ):

Writer/director John Hughes hits a new low with this movie apparently aimed at the preteen set. Filled with superfluous profanity and gratuitous violence, there is little to redeem this exercise in vulgarity. One 11-year-old boy found CURLY SUE annoying, especially the filler scenes made necessary by the lack of significant plot. Case in point: Curly Sue performs the National Anthem by obnoxiously braying all of the lyrics. However, the 11-year-old did laugh at the innumerable punches in the face. Adults and older kids, though, will find such slapstick ridiculous, even offensive.

The young viewer also thought the little girl "needed a swat," which was his impolite way of saying the precocious child will drive you up a wall with her feigned cuteness. And the same young fellow could easily predict the outcome of the incredibly obvious story. The female lawyer character is also problematic -- she is a single, childless woman who, according to the movie, only needs a man and child to make her less nasty, and more human. Kelly Lynch's inability to play comedy doesn't help the situation. The mawkish scenes between the little girl and Lynch are especially irksome.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Curly Sue's and her father's behavior. What different choices would you make if faced with the same situations?

Movie Details

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