The Baby Sitters Club (PG)

A girlfriends story with a great message.

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Movie details

Studio: Sony Pictures
Directed By: Melanie Mayron
Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Schuyler Fisk, Larisa Oleynik, Rachel Leigh Cook, Tricia Joe
Running Time: 94 minutes
Release Date: 08/14/1995
Video/DVD Release Date: 09/16/2003
Genre: Family and Kids
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA Explanation: brief mild language.

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that Stacy lies about her age and to her family in order to date a much older boy (she's 13, he's 17). She also neglects her diabetes treatment because she doesn't want to look dumb in front of her crush. Kristy lies to her friends and family about where she's going and shirks her responsibilities to be with her father. While there's little swearing and no alcohol or drug use, at times the movie is like an ad for popular food products.

Families can talk about the danger of keeping secrets. What happens when both Kristy and Stacy keep secrets? Why do they do it? What should you do if an adult ever asks you to keep a secret from your parents? Who should you talk to if your parent is the person asking you to keep the secret?

Message
Violence
Sex
Language

Message

Social Behavior:

Kristy's dad asks her to keep his presence there a secret from her mom and friends, which causes other to feel hurt and left out. The girls are business-minded and earn money, do math, and practice sign language with a child who speaks through it. The group is diverse, though few people of color get meaty roles; the children they babysit have diverse backgrounds.

Consumerism:

Several products are visible in the film, including Sprite, Coca-Cola, the game Clue is mentioned and played, Wonder Bread, Jif peanut butter, the Yankees, and Ocean Spray are all featured prominently.

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Violence

Some mild baseball injuries. A boy pretends to staple himself in the chest. Stacy collapses during a hike because she ignores her diabetes. Kids walk alone on dark and deserted roads.

Sex

Stacy lies about her age to date older Luca. The girls and boys have various crushes on one another. Cokie tries to steal Logan and dresses provocatively. Teens do a little kissing.

Language

One use of "dammit."

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Heather Boerner

Based on the book by Ann M. Martin, THE BABY SITTERS CLUB shows kids of different ethnicities and interests hanging out, riding bikes, getting crushes, working on schoolwork, and hatching crazy/brilliant schemes. The scheme in this case is a summer day camp where the girls can earn enough money to get an office for their baby sitting group. Group ringleader and tomboy Kristy (Shuyler Fisk) and her buddies -- the math-minded Stacy (Bre Blair), the studious Mary Anne (She's All That's Rachel Leigh Cook), hippie Dawn (10 Things I Hate About You and The Secret World of Alex Mack's Larissa Oleynik), artistic Claudia (Tricia Joe), novelist Mallory (Stacy Linn Ramsower), and dancer Jessi (Zelda Harris) -- have had the market cornered on babysitting in suburban Stoneybrook for years -- but they're also best friends. In a bid to get to spend the summer together every day and still keep their babysitting clients happy, the girls open a day camp. But when Kristy's flaky biological dad reappears after a near five-year absence, Kristy's loyalties are torn: Does she keep the secret her dad asks her to keep or does she risk betraying him? And can she get all the time she wants with her dad while still spending enough time with her family and at the day camp she created?

Is it any good?

If you want a picture of real suburban tween/teen life, don't look to the Disney Channel or early Lindsay Lohan movies. Instead, check out The Babysitters Club. Nearly all the young actresses are enchanting. The only shame is that Blair's performance as Stacy falls flat. It's no surprise that Oleynik and Cook became bigger-name stars after this movie. And Fisk's portrayal of the confused but well-meaning Kristy has viewers alternately rooting for her and worrying about her. It's especially worrying when she does things like head to a carnival alone at night and leave her baby brother to walk home alone.

The great thing about The Baby Sitters Club is that Kristy learns her lesson -- and offers instructive life lessons to tweens eager to test their independence. It reminds them that going it alone, especially when an adult is asking them to compromise their morals, is never the right choice. And in a world of oversexualized teens, it's refreshing that the sweet girls, dressed age-appropriately and non-suggestively, are the ones with the boyfriends. It also shows boys as they really are -- sure they're attracted to girls, but they also like the girls for all the different parts of their personalities.