Customer Reviews

The Best Little Girl in World (1981 TV Movie) [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This film is wonderful, as it moves beyond the book and towards a more general and mass-informative genre regarding eating disorders. I first rented this video from the original producer, FOX, and the quality was so much better. The tape was in SP, and excellent quality. This company, however, charges a market price, 5.99 for a poorly reproduced "dub" in EP format, with glitching, and a "bootleg" presentation. Do not waste your money! There are reruns of it on television, and always the prospect that FOX will re-release it. This video will not last very long, so you may find yourselves purchasing it again, in its poor form. BUYER BEWARE.

An eating disordered person myself, I was shown this movie during my stay on an Eating Disorders Unit. The particular case of anorexia portrayed in the film is not overly representative of the disease. The film was not at all enlightening and only had a negative effect. The actress, whom I assume must have starved herself to play the role, sent all of us into a frenzied desire to be as skinny as she is.

My cousin and I first saw this fantastic film on Odyssey. Even then we knew this was the best movie ever!! It's a shockingly life-like portrayal of the disease called anorexia nervosa. Jennifer Jason Leigh put on an unforgetable performance that could not have been played by anyone else. Soon after we saw the movie, we read the book. I would reccomend both to anyone.

Whether or not you have read the book by Steven Levenkron, you will enjoy this movie. It takes you through a textbook case of Anorexia Nervosa. Casey is the overacheiver. She is the one the family overlooks. She is completely enmeshed with her mother. This is an older movie, so the sound and effects could be better, but the story is told very well and the acting is convincing.

Showing sparks of talent, Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a depressed early eighties teen living with a control freak father and a family of idiots. Very well done and very ahead of it's time even if the soundtrack is a little too REO Speedwagon.

This was one of the first films that hinted at the thespian talents of Jennifer Jason Leigh as a teenage bulemic whose weight struggles begin in ballet class. All it took was a comment about her adolescent body to begin a spiral of self-abuse and control issues around food. The 1981 version is lax on how far people go to be perfect but it is a telling account of what happens when the addiction to thin goes too far.

In my opinion, the movie version of Levenkron's novel isn't near as captivating as the book....nor as graphic/ realistic. It does like many movies focusing on eating disorders do.....in a sense, glamorizes them...everything will be okay in the end.......NOT TRUE. As for a really good book on the subject I would recommend Second Star on the Right by Deborah Hautzig.

"The Best Little Girl In The World" movie is excellent! At one point in time I was considered to be anorexic. I never landed myself in the hospital, but I sure as heck lost a lot of weight and didn't eat. I can relate a lot to how Casie feels in this movie. I would recommend this movie to everyone. Anorexia is not something that should be dealt with lightly.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VIDEO FOR PRESENTATIONS ON EATING DISORDERS. I USED IT FOR MY PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS. THERE REALLY AREN'T THAT MANY VIDEOS OUT THERE ON THE SUBJECT. I ALSO HEARD THAT IT IS NO LONGER IN PRINT SO I BOUGHT IT AS SOON AS I COULD.

I didn't see the movie but I read the book of the best little girl in the world, and I found it to be fantastic. The detail that the author gives is wonderful.