The Baby-Sitters Club Movie

https://www.deviantart.com/spongey444/journal/Baby-Sitters-Club-1990-2020-Thoughts-1039035754

https://www.vulture.com/article/an-oral-history-of-the-baby-sitters-club-movie.html

Hello, Spongey here.

Scholastic has had plenty of brands over the use that have had a lot of reach. But in the 90’s, they had a main trilogy of them that I always see as connected. Goosebumps is of course the main one I focus on and it is the only producing brand new content right now, as in not just graphic novels.

Animorphs is the best of them and came in later to perfect what was built for it. But it’s remained rather niche with a concrete ending. Now fans just have the neat graphic novels and a movie that is stuck in development hell.

Today we’re focusing on the biggest of the 3: The Baby-Sitters Club. Created by Ann M Martin in 1986, BSC was made after the all powerful Jean Fiewel suggested she make a series about Sitters after a stand alone book about babysitting blew up.

The good cleaning baby-sitting fun swept the nation all the way until 2000. It spawned plenty of merch, spin offs, two shows and a graphic novel series that continues to this day.

I talked about it before in regards to a wacko Christian rip off series so you can go here for more fun. But today we go bigger. I find the series so fascinating as a whole. While the canning of the Netflix show was a blow, it continues to thrive the most of the big 3.

I’ve always been somewhat interested in it but this year I really want on a deep dive. I watched the 1990 series (it sure did exist) and the 2020 one (pretty good), on top of looking into deep lore and podcasts and such. I’ll link my journal on the tv shows above if you want more opinions and history on all that.

And now it’s time to top it all off with a footnote that should have been bigger: The movie! Released in 1995 as BSC Mania was pretty high, this movie came and went from theaters. It was a flop with just 9 million dollars on a 6 million budget. While the series was 9 years old by that point, it still seems like a movie should have been a bigger event. The reviews were alright, with a 67 on Rotten Tomatoes. Not glowing but the people who did see it seemed to like it fine.

So what went wrong? Well it made more sense upon further research. For one, I didn’t find a ton for marketing. The books did push it but not as hugely as you’d think. You had a Little Sister book mentioning it on the cover, despite the titular little sister Karen barley being in it. There was a nationwide tour with the actors. Notice how this is mostly fan targeted, as I couldn’t find too much marketing that people outside of the fanbase would really see.

The other problem is that it was supposed to come in September, basically so Scholastic could advertise it book fairs and whatnot. But Sony moved it to the middle of August for whatever reason, so those things combined lead to a flop. However, it did do well on VHS meaning it could have found a decent audience even if it was hardly a classic.

There are those who grew up with it and cherish it, with the actors talking it up maybe a bit too much. Not don’t know the full scope of fan reception these days, but it’s split between nostalgic love and “eh”. But as I said, it’s mainly a curiosity piece with some nostalgia attached. As someone who more of a casual who did a deep dive, it should be interesting to see what I think.

The writer is Darlene Young who has done some stuff, but nothing too notable. Honestly her biggest thing to me is being an actor in Pig (2021). The director is Melanie Mayron who had this as her debuet. She’d go on to have classics like “She’s Her…She’s French” and Mean Girls 2. She said she never read the books and still hadn’t by 2016. Not inspiring much confidence.

All that said, did they do a fine job of bringing the best friends you’ll ever have to the big screen? Is it any good on its own? Let’s see.

This, is The Baby-Sitters Club (Movie)

The movie opens of a shot of a schedule as the Baby-Sitters club gets a bunch of calls. Riveting start but there is a banger song on top of it, even if it’s no Say Hello to Your Friends. There’s some awkward breaks in these opening credits.

We’re then introduced to Kristy, played by Schuyler Fisk, who is the leader of the cult, I mean club. She explains the concept of the BSC to us, and goes through all the members. We’ve met Kristy, who is the bossy one. Stacey (Bre Blair) is the treasure who has dibates and is from New York. Mary Anne (Rachael Leigh Cook) is the shy one and Kristy’s best friend. Dawn (Larisa Oleynik, Alex Mack herself) is from California and is a vegan tree huger.

Claudia (the late Tricia Joe) is the weird fashion-ista who is bad at math, and also the best one. Mallory Stacey Linn Ramsower) is a recent member who is 11 and wants to be a writer. Plus everyone, especially Ann M Martin, hates her. Jessi (Zelda Harris) is also 11, is into ballet and is the black one which I know the books make sure you remember.

Kristy says they’re friends and nothing can ever change that. Tempting fate early, I see. It’s Summer which means not too long until they repeat 8th grade for the 65th time. We mostly get hangout stuff, as they discuss jobs and summer plans. Stacey gets a job watching over a girl named Rosie who has a hot cousin. Oh yeah she’s also Baby-Sitters Club #8 Boy Crazy Stacey.

At Kristy’s house, we see her hectic family which includes her stepsister Karen. Kristy’s Dad straight up left a while ago, leading Mom to get a new husband named Watson Brewer (no relation to the botanist). So far we’re doing the 1990 show approach of jumping in after everything is established which is a lot to take in but at least we’re natrually being introduced to it.

And hey, still less clunky than the recaps in the actual books. Stacey’s date goes well but she doesn’t want him to know about her diabetes. Also he’s 17 while she’s 13. You only have a year before you call the FBI, don’t worry. This is talked about during a meeting, where you can see a Clifford book in the background. Scholastic synergy alert.

Kristy pitches one of her great ideas: a day camp. She says it’s a good way for them to be together for the whole summer and keep watch over many kids at once. They like it so it’s a go. That’s basically our premise and we’ll hang subplots from there. It’s as fair a plot as any I guess. We get introduced to some characters, such as alpha bitch Cokie Mason who has as her only live action appearance. Plus we have Logan Bruno, Mary Anne’s boyfriend, played by the kid from Last Action Hero.

We get a scene of Cokie hitting on Logan and already I can say Cokie is fun.

“Just think, you, me, and Smashing Pumpkins”

She’s got good music taste at least. I thought she meant like the act of doing that and I just made a joke but nah it was an actual name drop. Also what is with this music, the song playing goes on about getting busy. In the next scene, they say Kristy has a birthday coming up but her canon birthday is August 20th and Summer just started. Yes, I have no life but I just looked it up on the wiki.

Despite passing out a million fliers, they don’t have a lot of takes yet. Cokie is here and I just wanna say I love her minions and some of the lines we get with them. Enough of that, onto the opening of the day camp, with enough kids attending. We get a bunch of goof off stuff until Alan Gray shows up. He’s the resident class clown with a sensitive side, according to the wiki anyway. He wants in on this and he’ll work for free, so he’s a “free dweeb”.

He’s got a thing for Dawn so that’s his real motive. Later, Kristy bumps into her deadbeat father Patrick Thomas who is in town. I know the books eventually had him show up but not at the time and the 2020 show decided to not let him show his dirty face at all when they did this subject. So we got some substance at least.

He seems to be okay-ish and he’s even thinking about moving back to Stoneybrook. You can tell emotions are high because the emotional music is playing in full force. He invites her to dinner and Kristy has Mary Anne tag along for company. It actually goes well, with him wanting to make amends and be fun.

Kristy still isn’t quite sure and hasn’t even told Mom about all this. Plus he gave Kristy a dress so he doesn’t know she’s a fictional tomboy who scoffs at dresses smh. Back to goofy camp stuff, as Cokie tries another scheme to get Logan. I love how that busy song plays when she appears. It involves a smoke bomb or something which just ends up in the neighbors yard.

Dad shows up in his truck and since no one sees who is in it, they assume Kristy has a secret boyfriend. Ew. Emily Haberman is the neighbor I mentioned and she’s been shown as being upset by all this so she tells them to calm down or she will get this shut down. Two wacky villains in one movie!

There’s a little bit with Claudia to remind she exists, before we get reminded of Stacey’s plot as she gets wrapped in Luca’s charms. They’re going on a date but almost forgets to eat and that plus the insulin shot is important. Man imagine if this guy made her have a Baby-Sitters Club #43 Stacey’s Emergency, he’d be the true villain.

It doesn’t totally come to that but she does forget to eat something and faints. She never told him about the diabetes and they have a nice little moment. Cut to Kristy as she bonds with Patrick. I still don’t trust his ass but sure. All this makes her miss a meeting, so Claudia decides to take over. Hell yeah but alas it short lived.

Kristy shows up slightly late and isn’t telling them about Patrick which of course makes her look sus, especially she is wearing the dress he got her. The pop song blaring during this scene truly sets the mood. Now we got some friction. A few bits later, Kristy is tutoring Claudia but keeps spacing out which upsets the others who are around. Mallory proclaims that they never fight so I guess all those cases of them fighting in the books aren’t canon to this.

Kristy continues to be flaky, like when she forgets to pick up her little brother David Michael from something. It’s a solid moment that shows how far this has gone but Kristy is bringing it all on herself by just not telling the truth. That’s the point and it’s as compelling as it is annoying, I guess. The next day at the day camp, Kristy reveals a plan to help Claudia remember that math matirel: a rap number.

Ah yes, the Pinkie Pie method. Also, 90’s!. The girls indeed do the rapping by the way. Eminem’s been real quiet since this dropped. The transition was abrupt but nice to see that Kristy is still trying. Claudia’s summer school test goes well thanks to the rap, yay. But Kirsty is still acting weird in general and the others are still worried.

They found out that Mary Anne knows and upon bringing that up, Kristy leaves so that the dramatic music can carry the rest. Yeah the drama can feel a bit overblown. Kristy talks to Patrick and asks why he chose now to come back, as he was always flaking out before then. Promising he’d come and at best send 2 cards in the span of 5 years.

She gets mad at him due to making her being so secretive which is more on her. Patrick wants to make it up to her by stopping the secrets himself and revealing the truth to Mom that he is indeed here. He’s oddly nice for a deadbeat. Meanwhile, Stacey and Luca go to a teen club that does not let her in due to to having no ID and clearly being 13.

Luca is not happy he was just a year away from commiting a crime. His freakout is kinda funny. The sad music plays but no time to mourn, we get more daycamp. The neighbors flowers are ruined and since they have sentimental value, it’s the last straw. Dawn gets her some new flowers and the effort is appreciated so she calms down. Dawn is invited into her house and we get some lore on her, it’s rather sudden.

I’ll say more at the end but the handling of some of these storylines is a bit off. Anyway, Stacey is sad about Luca who has been calling a lot. And plays harmonica nearby, what a smooth guy. End scene and onto Kristy’s birthday. Whoa, they CAN age!

She’s supposed to meet Patrick at Funland for a birthday thing…but he doesn’t show up, leading to her being late for party antics when the BSC. All that and he still sucks. Then of course a storm comes in to drive home the sad-ness. Mary Anne finally reveals the truth to the others which makes Jessi say “wow”. That has been her biggest contribution.

The girls go over there to help Kristy and hug it out. Luca is here too as we wrap that plot up. Stacy apologies for the lying and yada yada, with him saying he’s coming back next summer.

“I’ll be 14”

“I know’

He’s be 18, making it a full on crime. Why is this portrayed as romantic. With that out of the way, they comfort Kristy and the emotions do work well here.

“Friends Forever”

Hey that’d be a good name for a follow up series.

Mrs. Thomas is not happy about this, especially Patrick making her promise not to tell. That is a bit sus in hindsight although he’s so nice that this relapse feels odd. They do try nuance as Mom says he does love you but not the way Mom does. He actually sent a letter saying his new job didn’t work pit and he was too cowardly to talk about it in person. He apologizes for flaking again and promises to not do it again.

Kristy tears it up. So does he suck or not? I appreciate the nuance at least but the music does make this cheesier than it could have been. Anyway, we’re almost done. There was a greenhouse they made for Haberman which gets trashed by Cokie so they gotta clean it before the civic committee comes. They use their friendship powers to clean it up which annoys Cokie and her crew.

“They saw a problem and they worked hard to solve it”

“What are you saying, being good gets you somewhere?”

“Being bad didn’t. We wasted our whole summer”

“You didn’t waste it. You were with me”

I love them.

The civic people show up and can’t quite let them use it as they want it for their garden club. They also bring it how BSC is more of a business and that got stuff about that. Nice to finally see that noted. Haberman actually helps them out through some business talk and so they get to use it. Thus they go back to their fun and Jackie Radowsky even finally gets to hit a ball…and said ball pushes Cokie into the trash. Talk about two birds with one stone.

(Did I mention Jackie during this? I didn’t? Well, he was a minor thing here)

Alan Gray asks Dawn out and she says after seeing he’s been trying to ask her all summer. At least we get one good romance in here. Although spoilers, in the books he later apparently gets Claudia, good for him. Kristy’s voiceover tell us she started getting letters from Patrick more often so he’s good now? Whatever.

The BSc thinks they’re reading to move on from Claudia’s room as their HQ and wants to use the greenhouse instead. Guess Claudia having her own phone meets nothing now. But then they decide to fully give the greenhouse to Haberman to pay her back for the help.

A group photo is taken so we can get more sweet-ness in. After paying for certain thing, the BSC is left with 18 dollars which gets them a pizza. But Kristy thinks they got more than that. She says each of them was tested in their own, except for the girls who didn’t get a story arc. Maybe the real Baby-Sitters Club was the friends we made along the way.

OUT OF CONTEXT:

“I’ve got 5 fingers and more than 5 friends”

They take the photo for our 90’s freeze frame, roll credits. About as fair an ending as you could get, really. Everything got wrapped up in a passable fashion, can’t complain too much. …And yeah let’s wrap it up. Opening credits song continues in the end credits and it still slaps.

Final Thoughts:

This was…fine. It’s a perfectly passable kids movie that is harmless with its heart in the right place. It overall feels like a more refined version of the 1990 show. It has the same focus on wholesome-ness but with more weight to it and of course, more of a budget. It’s a middle ground between that and the 2020 so I’d rank it in the middle between those.

Just as a movie, it can struggle to juggle it all. Kristy getting most of it is fine but the others are mixed with their storylines. Claudia and Dawn at least get side things that tie into the story but don’t have a big impact as characters. That leaves Mallory and Jessi who are screwed over. I don’t know who Jessi really is here, and Mallory being screwed over is par for the course. At least she has a few notable lines.

The main problem is that this series doesn’t quite land itself to a movie format, as it’s hard to juggle so many characters. Granted, I hear some of the Super Specials can handle putting them into a long story so they could have just adapted one of those. Like, I can imagine the Season 1 finale of the 2020 series being stretched into a movie and that juggled a bunch of different story arcs fine.

Taking on its own without comparing it to anything else, it doesn’t get to overstuffed but underserve certain people. Acting is mostly fine even if Kristy is the only one with enough chances to show off anything. As for the story arcs, honestly my favorite parts were in the lighter ones. Cokie and her crew were pretty fun and Alan had some fun bits too.

Stacey’s story is the weakest, it just feels like an odd one spend so much time on. Despite the obvious age gap and mistakes Stacey makes, they still portray their thing as romantic and yeah, not a fan. The ending of it was just icky, and not ideal. Claudia’s math problem stuff was fine and tied into things okay, I just wish she was served better and oddly, her actor was the weak link.

Kristy’s story was mostly decent. It had weight to it as we did get some emotions as we deal with her conflicting feelings. The handling of Patrick overall was somewhat mixed though. I appreciate the nuance as he’s not totally perfect or horrible. They do go a bit back and forth though and it ends a bit too ideally. It may be the more cynical part of me on these sort of plot lines, but I would prefer if he ended is being bad or more up in the air.

It still, it provided some nice substance. Comparing to the books, from what I can gleam, they get all the details right and it has that mix of comedy, sweet-ness and having some weight to it. It can get a bit too saccharine at times and they act like their group friendship was bigger here than it really was. Given the director hadn’t read then, they have enough of the spirit.

I know the books later do stuff with Patrick but since this came first, it had some value to the fans at the time so at least they added some of their own stuff. I don’t think it’s perfect on either front but it has a nice try. That’s how I’d sum it all: It’s a nice try.

The script needed a few more passes, Sony could have handled it better and Luca just didn’t need to exist. But I did get enough enjoyment in here and found enough to be mildly compelling. It’s not exactly aimed at me but as it is, it’s totally fine. It doesn’t rise too much above what it is but for the target audience, it works decently.

It’s more a curiosity piece as part of the franchise but it’s alright for what it is. Could be better but could be worse, for sure. A “put it on the background” movie if there ever was one.

Rating: Decent

Well, that was fun. I maybe talked much about other BSC stuff here but I can’t help it, I’ve been too Baby-Sitter pilled by now. As a finale to my BSC media experience, it’s certainly a movie. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings on it all. As for next time, I have no idea which has been the case this year so far. It’ll be something, I can promise you that.

See ya.