Movie review: ‘Adventures in Babysitting’

FloridaGator80
A promotional “still” photograph from the movie “Adventures in Babysitting.”

Although more people are familiar with director Chris Columbus’ work in the “Harry Potter” franchise,  I remember him more for “Home Alone” and its first sequel (click here for my look at them) and “Mrs. Doubtfire” – although the little-remembered “Only the Lonely” was nearly as good an effort by him as those two. However, only a few remember that “Adventures in Babysitting” with Elisabeth Shue was his first film as director and that Columbus was Steven Spielberg’s protégé at the time. Teed up to appeal to the teen market, “Adventures in Babysitting” has enough quality and depth to be enjoyed by an older audience. “Adventures in Babysitting” has a great cast – especially what some would do later – and it also has a sensational soundtrack and work by two excellent musicians on screen. So, remember, don’t f%#* with the babysitter!

‘Adventures in Babysitting’
(1987; 102 minutes; rated PG-13; directed by Chris Columbus and starring Elisabeth Shue, Maia Brewton and Keith Coogan)

HERE’S THE BEST BABYSITTER EVER

(NOTE: I expanded this review with a little additional opinion and updating some links on Oct. 9, 2016. I again expanded the review on April 10, 2018. I again expanded the review on July 15, 2020. I again expanded the review on May 2, 2025.)

It’s really nice when a film that looks geared to the teen/early-20s audience is a film with some actual depth and intelligence. John Hughes was a master of this with films such as “The Breakfast Club” or even “Weird Science” (click here to read my review) and certainly “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” but Chris Columbus can give him a run for his money an did with his directorial debut in “Adventures in Babysitting.”

“Adventures in Babysitting” could have fallen victim to stereotypes of getting the babysitter in trouble and all the chaotic situations that follow, but Columbus and writer David Simkins do a good job having a bit of depth to make the situations almost plausible. Further, there is some good dramatic acting in the boyfriend-spurns-girlfriend arena by star Elisabeth Shue, who plays the wronged teenager who makes the best of it.

In “Adventures in Babysitting,” Shue, who was 23 during filming and plays 17-year-old high schooler “Chris Parker,” has her boyfriend cancel their anniversary dinner at the last minute (more about this later). He makes up an excuse and so she’s left to be able to babysit that night and Shue’s babysitting a young girl whose older brother has a crush on her. At the same time, a friend of Shue’s gets into trouble and is stranded at a bus station in Chicago – a different world to these kids in the suburbs.

So, circumstance forces the group to go pick her up and the adventure begins.

A promotional “still” photograph from the movie “Adventures in Babysitting.”

After a flat tire leads them to getting a tow, the driver is told via radio his wife’s cheating on him and he goes home to confront her. In the fight that follows, a shot pierces Shue’s windshield and the kids flee into a car being stolen. Follow it so far? It sounds complicated, but the story flows well on screen.

After interrupting a car theft ring and escaping, the group winds up in a blues club where they have to sing to get out (more about the music later). However, one of the boys has picked up a Playboy magazine on which the crooks have written important information.

More chaos ensues from a confrontation with two gangs on a train; a frat party where Shue is mistaken for that Playboy’s centerfold model; and Shue confronting her boyfriend, whom she finds at dinner with another girl: Whoopsie! No sick sister at home for him!

The film comes to its climax at a party in a downtown skyscraper where the kids’ parents are at a party. Despite doing some risky climbing on the outside of the building, the group is saved by the car thief. They return home and everything’s fine – and Shue’s new “friend” from the frat party finds her – and everything’s peachy when the credits roll.

Here’s a look at some of the primary cast:

  • A promotional “still” photograph from the movie “Adventures in Babysitting.”

    An Oscar nominee (not for this one), Shue, who was in her fourth movie but first as headlining star, does a really outstanding job here. She’s as somewhat naïve as she is more innocent but with some steel inside her – “Don’t f%#* with the babysitter!” she tells a gang leader as she brandishes a switchblade in one scene. Shue doesn’t do as good a job as she did in her nominated performance in the incredibly dark “Leaving Las Vegas” with Nicolas Cage, but certainly better than she was in “Hollow Man.” Shue was also the girlfriend in “The Karate Kid” as well as being in “Cocktail” with Tom Cruise (click here to read my review) and she did a couple of seasons on TV’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” Overall, a very underappreciated actor of her generation with 62 acting credits into the spring of 2025 since the first in 1982 – a span of five decades.

  • The next best performance (pretty close to Shue’s effort) is by Calvin Levels as car thief “Joe Gipp.” Levels does great at the calm, ultimately cool and somewhat all-understanding crook with a heart of gold. I’m not sure why Levels didn’t get a springboard step out of this role to bigger things because he’s certainly talented enough. Levels was also in “Johnny Suede” as well as some TV work and was a Tony nominee for his effort in the mid-1980s on Broadway as lead actor in “Open Admissions.” He hasn’t had a film or TV credit since 1999 and was in a video in 2003.

As to the girl needing a babysitter and her brother and his friend who wind up with them on the adventures, here goes:

  • A promotional “still” photograph from the movie “Adventures in Babysitting.”

    Keith Coogan is really solid a 15-year-old “Brad Anderson.” He has a big crush on Shue, but she’s miles away from him. Coogan elevates his character in the film – and that’s not easy for a young actor to do – without being either overbearing or cringe-worthy. Coogan was also terrific in “Hiding Out” with Jon Cryer (click here to read my review), which was his next flick after “Adventures in Babysitting.” He and has also been in “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” and “Toy Soldiers.” He even did some episodes of TV’s “CHiPs” back in the day – under his real name of Keith Mitchell (click here for my look at that series) – and was also on “Eight is Enough” and the wonderful kitschy series “The Love Boat” (click here for my fond look at that series). He began using the name “Coogan” name after 1983 and in time for “Adventures in Babysitting,” which is his first big-screen effort after voicing “The Fox and Hound” in 1981.

  • Maia Brewton is the youngest cast member (she was 9 years old during filming) and does a good job as “Sara Anderson.” The best thing you can say is that she doesn’t make you shake your head at another disappointing effort by a child actor. Brewton had previously been in “Back to the Future” and after was in TV’s “21 Jump Street.” After a TV series run that ending in 1993, she had only one credit until landing in an episode of TV’s “Odd Mom Out” in 2015 and that’s her last credit.
  • Anthony Rapp plays “Daryl Coopersmith” and is Coogan’s best friend in the film. Rapp does a good job as a sidekick and is responsible for stealing the Playboy magazine that gets them all into even more trouble. Rapp was smooth in his delivery and didn’t ever detract from the film, would later play the creepy graduate assistant in “Road Trip” (click here to read my review) as well as being in the lets-ignore-the-factual omissions to make the PC-cheered film called “A Beautiful Mind.”

The two other crooks that chase the kid while forcing Levels to come along are Ron Canada, who plays tough-guy “Graydon” and John Davis Chandler as crime boss and aptly named “Bleak.” Neither actor stands out in their respective roles (although Chandler’s gravelly voice is a nice touch). Chandler did a great job in his very few moments on screen in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” with Clint Eastwood (click here to read my review) and Canada was also in “Wedding Crashers” and “National Treasure.” Chandler died of cancer at 75 in 2010.

Here are some other notable performances from “Adventures in Babysitting:”

“Adventures in Babysitting” also has a great bluesy soundtrack and an outstanding scene at the club where bluesman Albert Collins tells the kids, “Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.” Shue and the kids then do a great job as they “ad lib” a song called “Babysitting Blues,” which was performed by Collins.

Albert was known as “The Master of the Telecaster” for his work with his signature Fender guitar and does a solid job in the film. Another musician appearing is “Southside Johnny” Lyon (and his “Asbury Jukes”). The kids hear “Southside Johnny” playing at a frat party near the end of the film, but he doesn’t interact directly with them as Collins did. Sadly, Collins died of lung cancer at 61 in 1993. (Click here for details about the film’s soundtrack)

“Adventures in Babysitting” was the 35th ranked film at the U.S. box office in 1987 with $34.3 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. It was reportedly made on a $7 million budget, so it was certainly a winner with investors. The No. 1 film of the year was “Three Men and a Baby” with $167.7 million. Here are the films from that year that I have reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Shue’s full birth name is spelled Elisabeth Judson Shue and her nickname is “Lisa;” Coogan’s birth name is Keith Eric Mitchell and he’s one of Hollywood’s micro-men at 5-foot-4; and Miller’s full birth name is Penelope Andrea Miller.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Bradley Whitford was allowed to use his own Camaro for the movie. It has the license plate ‘SO COOL,’ the actual license plate Bradley had on his car.”
  • One of the film’s producers is Debra Hill, who also produced John Carpenter’s “Halloween” (click here for my review). While Brewton is watching television, you can hear the “Halloween” main song playing.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Julia Louis-Dreyfus auditioned for the lead role, but withdrew in favor of Jodie Foster. But Foster, also withdrew, leaving Michelle Pfeiffer, Valerie Bertinelli, Elisabeth Shue and Justine Bateman as the only choices. Bateman withdrew from the project due to creative conflicts from the producers of Family Ties (1982). Pfeiffer left the project and instead starred in The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Bertinelli lost out to Shue on the final day of auditions.” I don’t have a problem with Bertinelli, but I’d have to say I’m glad because Shue simply defines the role and Valerie wouldn’t have been able to do as good a job. Pfeiffer was better in the other film than she would have been in this one and Bateman would have been a total joke in attempting to headline a movie.
  • In other casting notes … Kelly (“Top Gun”) McGillis auditioned for Shue’s role and didn’t get it; and Kathleen Turner (“Romancing the Stone” – click here to read my review) was wanted for the lead role but didn’t take it. Odd, since McGillis is six years older than Shue, while Turner is nine years older. Both would have been much too old to play the high school student that Shue did so well – however, that never stopped Hollywood before and I’m glad the other actors turned it down so as not to embarrass themselves – although I believe they’d put it differently.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Brenda’s coat is from ‘Hemingway High School;’ the school is fictitious. However, Ernest Hemingway was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois, where the movie starts and ends.”

© Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples,
©2014, ©2016, ©2018, ©2020, ©2025
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express
and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner
is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full
and clear credit is given to Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples with
appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Unknown's avatar

Published by FloridaGator80

Leave a Reply