ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (1987)

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (1987)

Tagline: She thought babysitting was easy money - until she started hanging out with the Andersons.

(Adventure, Comedy) [PG-13] 

This movie is actually Chris Columbus's first movie as a director. In case you are not familiar with him, he also directed the first 2 HARRY POTTER movies as well as PIXELS. His Producing credits are also extremely impressive. Columbus also wrote GREMLINS. 

In this one Chris Parker (played by Elisabeth Shue) sings a song in her bedroom then immediately gets stood up by Mike Todwell (played by Bradley Whitford most famous for GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS). We can tell pretty quickly that this dude has the personality of a toe-nail. Perhaps Whitford was also a little pompous back then too because he uses his own Camaro with his real license plate (that reads “SO COOL” in the movie). Anyway, Chris ends up babysitting for a couple she knows. She ends up getting called by her friend Brenda who has decided to run away from home. Brenda is a bit of an idiot and now Chris needs to leave the safety of the suburbs to save her from the perils of “the city”.  It doesn’t take long before the whole task goes off the freakin rails and we end up with a pretty fantastic adventure. 

Growing up the furthest we ever got to go with our babysitter was to the local Blockbuster to rent horror flicks. Chris is a little braver than that to be taking 2 kids she is babysitting and one of their friends into the great unknown after multiple bizarre incidents. While this movie is loaded with “great”, I am going to start off with the “odd”. 

It’s odd that the movie found a way to cram not 1 but 2 Playboy magazines into the plot. One at least of which involved a woman that resembled Chris Parker? I have no idea why or even how that move added to the plot of this movie or was even thought of as being a good addition to an otherwise pretty flawless movie. If I really want to search, I can think of only one other cringe-worthy scene in this movie. 

Acting-wise Elisabeth Shue is at the top of her game. She is perfect for this role and honestly given the numerous other actresses this could have been given too, I don’t think any of them would have nailed it quite like she did. The kids themselves are good, but the secondary actors really shine as well. Both of the main villains “so to speak” are fantastic. I also was shocked to find out that Vincent D'Onofrio (one of the most versatile actors out there) played the garage “Thor” character. I didn’t recognize him at all. 

Cinematically this movie is shot extremely well given that almost all of it is a night. The score is solid and there are a few musical treats. I can say this one won’t be for everyone, but it is a formidable addition to the 80’s comedy cult classics and I recommend seeing it at least once. As for me, I can’t wait to get the BLU-RAY. I think this will end up being one of those movies I watch regularly. It’s fun, lighthearted, anything but dull and it’s got just the perfect amount of cheese. 

I give ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING a 6 out of 7. As I mentioned there are a few odd things that put this in the not “perfect” category that also cost it score-wise, but it’s definitely a blast! Chris Columbus just about hit this one out of the park.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TOUCHSTONE PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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