Manny & Lo (1996)

Director:

Lisa Krueger

Writer:

Lisa Krueger (writer)

Release Date:

26 July 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A pregnant teen and her younger sister run away from foster homes and kidnap a woman whom they believe can help with the pregnancy.

Plot Keywords:

Model Home | Pregnancy | Baby | Fire | Bonfire

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Mary Kay Place	...	Elaine
Scarlett Johansson	...	Amanda
Aleksa Palladino	...	Laurel
Dean Silvers	...	Suburban Family
Marlen Hecht	...	Suburban Family
Forrest Silvers	...	Suburban Family
Tyler Silvers	...	Suburban Family
Lisa Campion	...	Convenience Store Clerk
Glenn Fitzgerald	...	Joey
Novella Nelson	...	Georgine
Susan Decker	...	Baby Store Customer #1
Marla Zuk	...	Baby Store Customer #2
Bonnie Johnson	...	Baby Store Customer #3
Melissa Johnson	...	Child
Angie Phillips	...	Connie

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA | USA:R | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Company:

Pope Productions

Trivia:

The family that Manny and Lo are watching at the golf course are Scarlett Johansson's parents, brother and sister.

Movie Connections:

References Born Free (1966)

Soundtrack:

Lo's Theme

No men allowed

This is the sweetest film. It's definitely a `chick thing' with Manny and Lo and Elaine bonding around an infant to be (Lo's). No men are allowed in this paradise. One appears and he gets bopped over the head, gagged and hog-tied. This is a fem-family made on the run. Lo (Aleska Palladino) in her high teens runs away from a foster home with her younger sister, Manny (Scarlett Johansson). It's a Thelma and Louise crime spree made as a movie for children. Well, not quite. Turns out Lo's pregnant. She has been hiding this from 11-year-old Manny, who has the eye of Sherlock Holmes and is the brains of this team. They find a rather nice, used only during the ski season cabin in the woods and hole up to await the stork. They spot Elaine (Mary Kay Place), a lonely spinster working in a baby clothes shop and kidnap her to help deliver the baby. Everybody, despite gruff exteriors, has a heart of gold, and togetherness and loving concern prevail. And what's wrong with that?

Nothing really. But I was thinking: this is the obverse of male war movies where none or few women appear, men doing their manly thing killing one another, women irrelevant. I think that's the key word here for director Lisa Kruege: in the reproductive game that is war by other means, men are irrelevant. Or almost so. In war it doesn't matter how many men are killed. As long as there are some left the population will quickly spring back. Kill the women, though, and you have a serious population problem. Manny and Lo and Elaine prove that you really don't need the male: his sperm will do, and that way you don't have to put up with his loutish behavior.

I think I got this right. Anyway, it's a cute movie.