The Best Little Girl in the World

I saw this movie in health class as part of the eating disorders unit. I found it to be in the same category as "A Secret Between Friends": Better seen in class than at home. Everyone I know who saw this was disgusted by Casey's bulimic body. I know I was. The only major problem I see here was the anti-climactic ending. They could have definitely done more here.

Funny, I didn't remember the name of this movie. Only that JJL was the girl who showed me that world. I spent 25 years trying to be free of it....finally, finally!! I know it was supposed to be a cautionary tale but....not for me.

"The Best Little Girl In The World" is a made-for-TV movie dealing with anorexia/bulimia. While it does have that "After-School Special" feel, it features good performances from great actors. Charles Durning is excellent as always as Casey's angry, disinterested father, and Jennifer Jason Leigh really establishes herself here as a great actor. The downside to this movie? It's a bit melodramatic- for example, every time Casey stumbles from weakness a dozen horns blare from the soundtrack. And there are laughably funny moments, such as the New Year's Eve sequence, where Charles During tries to force-feed Casey peanut butter sandwiches until she gains weight. She winds up biting his hand like a snarling dog. Or when Casey takes off her robe to reveal her sickly-thin body, it's obviously a body double. But if you are looking for a movie that deals with this subject honestly and respectfully (as opposed to all those Lifetime movies in which a man is always at fault), "The Best Little Girl In The World" is worth tracking down.

This and every movie, article or anything else about anorexia was what drove my own anorexia. In the 80's this was the movie to have on VCR and 1 or 2 books about anorexics. Watch every time one wanted to give up starving, to keep going.

Media of all kind should start thinking about this in the way they think about suicides, and stop showing stuff that are triggering. This movie may be old, but new ones are the same, triggeringwise.

What is showed, can spread, that's why suicide is not exposed as much. The experts know that in is contagious, however you try to show it. Info is spread in another way.

I went down a rabbit hole looking up Jennifer Jason Leigh and didn't realize she was in this TV movie that I watched in health class my freshman year of high school back in '89. The '70s, and definitely the '80s, had sorts of cautionary tales aimed at all us kids during that decade about drugs, eating disorders, pre-marital sex, evil metal music, stranger danger, etc. I even remember one, not in health class, but just put out on regular TV of a cautionary tale on what happens if you become a porn star. I don't remember this movie being all that great but not terrible. Agree with others that it might have done more harm than good since I knew several of my female friends from back then having eating disorders and I don't remember the movie going into the background of why she developed this issue other than her parents fighting. The reality I remember involved two sisters, one who was very promiscuous and her little sister ended up in a special school after her dentist discovered, due to her teeth being worn, her bulimia and working to get her better. I found out later that the reason for both of them having these issues is because their sleaze of a father has sexually abused them when they were little. That's the reason I give a low rating for this movie because most never showed the real issues behind the problems.