Der Baby-Sitters-Club

Okay, so maybe I am a 17-year-old guy now. That never stopped me from Liking The Baby-sitters Club and I only stopped reading the books because my mother didn't want me to.

I still haven't popped out of the phase, and I occasionally go back to read the books.

When I saw the movie appear, I wanted to go accompany a friend to see it (she was only 7).

Anyhow, I missed my chance there and didn't get to see the film until it appeared on Showtime down here (a year after it was released on video).

I still found it appealing. Mainly thanks to the park bench scene between Stacey, Luka and Rosie (I always thought Stacey was Charlotte Johanssen's favourite...)

Basically the Club of the title is holding a playgroup (I now scare you by saying it sounds like book #7) except there is a perturbed neighbour who threatens the club, and Kristy's father demands that she spends more time with him while letting nobody else know of his existence in Stoneybrook.

On top of that, Claudia has summer school, Mary Anne is the only person to know the truth about Kristy and Alan Gray (stupid jerky dweeb extraordinaire) is trying to date Dawn using tips from Logan. And diabetic Anastasia Elizabeth McGill is in love with a guy four years her senior.

That's pretty much the books done for you

When I first saw this movie, I wanted to run far, far away. The cheese! The corniness! The horror! But years later, I have come to appreciate it. Everyone who's familiar with the BSC will definitely watch this movie looking for any discrepancies from the series, and discrepancies abound. As for the actresses who play the Baby-Sitters? Well, one's wearing a wig, another is way older than the others, and one just seemed like a bad casting choice altogether. And as for the plot? Kristy's dad coming to town and everything involving that was a real downer. Plus, the Stacey/Luka thing (despite the fact that Luka is HOT!) was just WEIRD. The best parts in the movie were those involving the play group. What also saves this movie is its hidden talent(s) -- look for Kyla Pratt, Scarlett Pomers ("I've been to the moon!"), Larisa Oleynik, Rachael Leigh Cook, Marla Sokoloff, and Austin O'Brien. So all in all I've chosen to look past the cheese and realize that this movie is just a G-rated romp about friendship that really isn't a waste of your afternoon to watch. 7 stars out of 10.

My friends and I used to love this book so much that every month we ran to the bookstore and buy them. Two of my favorite actresses are in the movie, Rachael Leigh Cook and Larisa Oleinik. This story is about Kristy meeting her real father and Stacey lying about her age to Luca and going to N.Y. The story is really good. Especially for little girls. The whole family can watch it. I recommend this movie to Everyone. I give 7 out of 10. Austin O'Brien('My girl2','Last Action Hero') is appearing as Rachael's boyfriend, Logan Bruno.

For some people who take their kids to see this movie, they say it's cute, and it is. But some of the acting was just poor. Sissy Spacek's daugter was all right, her best work was the scene at the rainy carnival. Larisa Olenik and Rachel Leigh Cook were my favorite. Ellen Burstyn even had a small role. But the other actresses were just poor. But the teen actors were good, like Austin O' Brien. I didn't read many of the books, but I watched the old series, and I'm not saying that it was better, but it was just like the movie.

My only knowledge of "The Baby-Sitters Club" book series was that I used to see it in the Scholastic ads when I was a kid. I have no idea how faithful this movie is to the books. I gotta admit I found myself mocking a lot of this movie, as it is definitely made from corn. But I remind myself that I am not part of the demographic this was made for and try to be fair. If you can suppress your grown-up cynicism for awhile, it's actually pretty cute. The girls are all fun to watch and seem to enjoy being in the movie. Marla Sokoloff is a great little villainess. Rachel Leigh Cook would go on to be the most famous of any of the Club girls. She's "all that" here, too.

Some of the girls have little subplots. One girl has boy problems with the kid from Last Action Hero. The lead girl has daddy issues due to her absentee father showing back up. Another girl has diabetes and talks about it like it's leprosy and she's deathly afraid of telling her new Swiss boyfriend about it. He's a dork, by the way. But my favorite is the girl who is worried about flunking summer school and whines about it every chance she gets. Her friends reassure her that they will help her study and everything will be fine. This leads to the movie's highlight, a hilarious scene where the girls perform the most epic rap song ever to help her. It has to be seen to be believed.

I found myself liking this movie more as it went on. It's easy to dismiss it as fluff, and I guess it is, but it's enjoyable fluff. The actors, young and old, are decent. The direction is a little flat and the whole thing kind of looks like a made-for-TV movie but I liked it anyway. I think little kids might like it most or perhaps people who grew up in the '90s and are nostalgic about it.