The 6th movie I chose to watch this week was Chris Columbus's directorial debut film Adventures in Babysitting. This was another classic that enjoyed growing up and will most definitely enjoy from this day forward as well. It was a very unique storyline and had some very fun and interesting characters throughout and was a great film. Below is my detailed review.
Elisabeth Shue was the lead role of Chris Parker a babysitter who had one hell of a night of babysitting and then some. She was watching Brad (Keith Coogan) and Sara Anderson (Maia Brewton) and eventually ended up watching Brad's friend Daryl (Anthony Rapp) as well. Penelope Ann Miller played Chris's best friend Brenda and in a scene where I had to do a double take good ol Vincent D'Onofrio played Dawson or as Sara knew him to be, Thor! Another standout in this film was Handsome John Pruitt (I love that name!!) played by John Noonan. George Newbern (Father of the Bride) also starred as Dan Lynch, the guy who Chris eventually ends up with. Bradley Whitford (West Wing) played the role of Mike Todwell the asshole whom lied and cheated on Chris. Why is it that this guy seems to play a jerk in a lot of movies? All in all a great cast.
After some research I found out that Shue beat out Valerie Bertinelli for the lead role after many others both auditioned, were considered, and/or backed out due to other obligations. Some of them were Michelle Pfeiffer, Joulie-Louise Dryfuss, Jodie Foster, Sharon Stone, Brooke Shields, Andie McDowell, Melanie Griffith, Tatum O'Neal, Bridget Fonda, and Kathleen Turner. Both Nicole Eggert and Christina Applegate auditioned for the role of Sara in the film but that went to young Maia Brewton. I'm always intrigued by the actors and actresses who could have been in certain movie's but weren't.
This film had some many great things about it but lets start with the music and dancing. This is evident right from the beginning of the film where we see Chris dancing and singing to the song "Then He Kissed Me" by the Crystals. Quiet adorable and endearing. Edwin Star's Twenty Five Miles to home song was in this film on two different occasions. First when they first got onto the expressway at the beginning of the film but more notably at the end of the film when they were racing to get home and beat Mr. and Mrs. Anderson home. There were other small snippets of music throughout like "Expressway to your Heart" at the frat party but none compared to the Blue's singing scene. See below for more info. The film actually ended with the song it started with, "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals after Chris and Dan kissed in the Anderson's driveway.
The Blue's Bar scene where Chris sing's Babysitting Blues was absolutely classic. The way Chris and the kids perform in this sequence is amazing. Easily one of the most entertaining scene's of the entire film! You can't help but sing Babysitting Blues and finishing with "some guys are out to get her and Brenda's probably dead and these guys should be in bed"! Very catch, very hip, and very very funny! Awesome awesome scene. Like I said the music in this film was awesome and so many of the great great scenes in this movie had music associated with it.
My favorite character was Daryl whom had many funny facial expressions, quotes, and antics throughout the film. He was quite the quirky friend one could say and was a pleasant surprise for this movie. I especially loved when they were in the truck with Handsome John Pruitt and he yelled out "oh God is it his hand" and Brad says "no, its a gun" and Daryl yells out "oh God" again. Very funny. His actions at the frat party and when seeing Mike at the restaurant were also very funny.
Brad was also quite funny in this film and the cruel trick Sara played on him at the beginning of the film with Chris was a teenage boy's nightmare. I could literally feel Brad's pain in that scene. I loved Brad's enthusiasm as he introduced himself to all the chop shop workers and his defense of Chris in the subway was just too damn funny. I can hear him now, "take that back, apologize. Watch your mouth you big city scum sucker". haha". Watching Sara and Daryl's face in this scene were hilarious especially after Chris picks out the knife from Brad's shoe and says to the gang member "Don't Fuck with the Babysitter"! Awesome! I thought it was a clear reference to Michael Jackson's Beat it with the two gang crews meeting on the subway with their Black and Red attire and knives out ready to do battle. So 1980's huh?
I know that Brenda was an important part of the film but I felt the scenes at the train station were a little too unrealistic. I mean I know homeless people probably live there but the guy with the gun was corny and I cant imagine any guy doing what he did and there was one of the few film flubs in the train station as well. When the old man tried to get into the phone booth his bag is visible on the ground and he has dentures in there. Only problem is he has a full set of teeth when yelling at Brenda. Another flub was on the expressway when the tire blows out. Chris tried to steer to the shoulder on the right in one scene but ends up pulling over to the left and center divider in the next. No big flubs but just some minor ones that were noticeable. I also personally thought that Brad, at 15, was a little old to be babysat personally especially by someone just 3 years older than him. hat was weird to me.
I could easily look past all of that because I enjoyed the memorable scenes in this film so much that these minuscule things I just mentioned had no effect on my thoughts and views for this film. I still have positive things to say when speaking of this film and always will and to this day it still has one of the most entertaining music dance and singing number in a movie that Ive ever seen. Yes I loved that scene that much. Overall this one gets an easy A!
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