Adventures in Babysitting

Plot synopsis:
Chris Parker is awaiting the arrival of her boyfriend, Mike Toddwell, to pick her up for a date. When he arrives, he devastates her by canceling their plans to go to a French restaurant in downtown Chicago due to his sister becoming ill. Brokenhearted, Chris has her best friend Brenda come over, and while she is there, the Andersons call asking if Chris can babysit their daughter Sara. Seeing no other plans for the evening, Chris agrees.When she arrives, she discovers eight-year-old Sara and her fifteen-year-old brother Brad in an argument. Sara had taken Brad's Clearasil and used it to paint another picture of her Marvel hero Thor, prompting Brad to call him a homo and upset her. She manages to blackmail him by telling him in front of Chris (without his knowing) that she would tell Chris about all of his love poems to her. Embarrassed, Brad admits defeat and apologizes to Sara.After the Andersons leave for the evening, Brad is visited by his best friend Daryl, whose house he was supposed to be staying over that night, but Brad cancels and returns to the living room where he shuts the blinds out from the "stray dog" as he describes him to Chris. Chris gets a call from a frantic Brenda, who had successfully run away from home, but unsuccessfully stranded herself at the bus station downtown. Without the money to pay for a cab ride, Brenda's fear prompts Chris to decide to drive into town. Sara and Brad won't let her leave them home alone, and Daryl's eavesdropping forces her to take him along as well.In the car, Chris tells Sara a scary story about a man with a hook who kills a babysitter and her children, and when a car tire blowout stands them on the expressway without a spare, she realizes that she forgot her purse at the Anderson's. A tow truck pulls over and "Handsome" John Pruitt offers them a hand, or a hook to the surprise and fear of the children. Offering to pay for the tire repair, Pruitt is distracted by a call and he diverts to his home where his wife is cheating on him. In a resulting shootout, Chris and the others get out of the truck and into a Cadillac, which is being stolen. The thief, Joe Gipp, promises to take them to safety after he drops off the car at a chop shop. However, leaders Greydon and Bleak detain them up in the office for a meeting they were involved in. Daryl boosts a Playboy magazine to replace his dad's, which had been thrown out of the car window earlier by Brad. They then make a tense escape crossing the girders in the warehouse ceiling, escaping outside. The thieves find the Playboy missing, and as it contains incriminating evidence that can be used against them, they give chase.The kids are chased into a blues club where they are not allowed off the stage until they reveal their predicament in song, much to the cheers and applause from the audience. When they are allowed to leave, they are reminded of their mission and predicament when Darryl attempts to pick up a prostitute on the street who turns out to be a seventeen yo runaway.Meanwhile Brenda is not having a very good time at the bus station. Having her glasses stolen while resting leaves her practically blind, she mistakes a sewer rat for a kitten, and is laughed at by pest exterminators when she attempts to defend it. A hot dog vendor will not accept her small check as payment, stating "You slip me the cash, and I'll slip you the wiener." But when she says, "I don't have any cash!" he proclaims, "Then I don't have a wiener!"Another chase from the thieves prompts them to board a monorail where a pair of rival gang members move in to kill each other. Chris intervenes to hold off the fight until they exit the train, and Brad stands up when she is insulted. Brad gets a knife thrown into his shoe, and Chris wields it against the gang, quoting her famous line: "Don't fuck with the babysitter." When they back off, the four of them leave the train and rush Brad to the hospital. After a scare where they think Brad has died, they run into Pruitt again, who tells them that they will need to pay $50 for the tire, as he had to pay for the windshield damage from the gunfight earlier.They arrive shortly after at a fraternity party. Chris meets a new love interest in Dan Lynch who manages to get together $45 toward the car's tire payment. Darryl gets into trouble with a jock whose lonely girlfriend attempts to have sex with him, and Dan takes them to Dawson's garage. Leaving, and expected never to be seen again as he did not give Chris an address to get hold of him to pay him back, upon entering the garage, they meet Dawson, whose long blond hair and physically fit appearance causes Sara to think he is the alter ego of Thor. Dawson, offended by the $5 shortage, refuses to relinquish the car, but Sara's selflessness in giving him her plastic Thor helmet prompts him to have a change in heart, he gives the car and her helmet to the kids, and lets them go.En route to the bus station, Chris spots the restaurant that Mike was supposed to take her to that night, and Darryl points out Mike's car in the parking lot. They go in to find that Mike is dating and flirting with the sleazy Sesame Plexer, and it is revealed that Mike was only dating Chris in interest of having sex with her. Brad stands up for Chris, but won't sink to his level. Darryl admits, "I will", and kicks Mike into a dessert cart.Meanwhile, Sara has slipped out of the restaurant to visit a toy store she had seen, and is approached by Bleak, who spots the Playboy in her backpack. They chase her down to the building that her parents are having their party in, and find through chocolate finger smudges on the elevator buttons which floors to check. Graydon exits in the renovated top floor of the building, and discovers Sara climbing out the window on a rope. Chris, Darryl, and Brad hot on their trail choose the wrong floor and accidentally crash the Anderson's office party. After a brief encounter with Bleak, both he and Chris notice Sara walking along the window ledge outside, and Chris causes Bleak to trip while she and Brad and Darryl go upstairs and discover Sara outside the window. After pulling her up to safety, Joe arrives and explains they were after the Playboy the whole time. They decide to leave Graydon outside and let him "sweat a little" while Joe shows his resignation from the car thieves by punching out Bleak, and they depart the building.Brenda discovers her glasses and steals them back, only to be chased from the bus station by everyone she had come across. Being chased by the homeless, she runs into the exterminators, past the hot dog vendor, and past the phone booth, which is a homeless man's house. After she gets outside, she is picked up by Chris and the others and she proclaims "What took you guys so long?!"On the way home, the kids pass the Andersons on their way home. Chris sends the kids upstairs and Brenda home before cleaning up the messes that had been made earlier in the day, coming to settle down just as the Andersons appear in the doorway, not suspecting a thing. Chris goes upstairs to say good night and announces her plans to retire from babysitting. They each admit to each other and thank themselves for "What was probably the greatest night of their lives... so far".As Chris leaves, Dan makes a surprising appearance to return Sara's skate, which she'd left in his jeep, as well as admit to Chris that he is interested in her. Sara shouts "Kiss him!" from the bedroom window, and they comply happily. Brad, who had come to realize that while they aren't boyfriend/girlfriend, he and Chris can still have a good friendship, accepts that Dan is better for her than he is. He closes the blinds to give the two some privacy, and the credits roll.

Tags: cult

Review:
I saw this movie when it first came out in the summer of 1987 (a year after "Ferris Bueller" which "Adventures" bares somewhat of a resemblence to) and while I was watching the film it felt to me like I was part of the adventure.
Elisabeth Shue is terrific in her first leading role as Chris Parker, a 17-year-old high school senior who prepares for a big date with her boyfriend at the beginning of the film.
The foursome experience car troubles; run-ins with a friendly car thief, a mob group the thief works for (who spend most of the movie chasing the kids through the streets of Chicago), and two gangs on a train; a short trip to a hospital (when one of the kids is slightly injured by a member of one of those gangs); a brief stop at a frat party; a chase to the top of a high-rise building; and a show stopping classic scene in a blues bar.
"Adventures in Babysitting" was directed by Chris Columbus in his directing debut after writing screenplays for a couple of Steven Spielberg produced movies ("Gremlins", "The Goonies", and "Young Sherlock Holmes").
"Adventures in Babysitting" is a movie that's great fun from start to finish and never lets up.
The movie opens with Chris Parker (played by Elizabeth Shue in a very early starring role) first finding out that her boyfriend can't make their big date that night.
Things go okay until Chris gets a call from her best friend Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller), who says that she ran away from home, and is now stuck at a bus station in the city with no money and no way home, and of course she can't call her parents.
This is probably the best part Penelope Ann Miller has ever had, and she demonstrates a surprising talent for screwball comedy.Like I said, the rest of the young cast is great; Shue pretty much began her career here, and Coogan, Rapp, and Brewton (who was also very funny on the also underrated TV show "Parker Lewis Can't Lose", which I'm dying to see come out on DVD) put in funny, though clichéd, parts.
"Adventures in Babysitting" is one of those movies that just sounded kind of dumb based on the title (like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), but if you haven't seen it, give it a try anyway; the brilliant gags and the strong acting made it work..
In the suburbs of Chicago, the seventeen year-old Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) is in love with her boyfriend Mike (Bradley Whitford).
Chris sees no other option and accepts the offer in the beginning of an unforgettable night of adventures in Chicago."Adventures in Babysitting" is one of those adorable cult-movies for the entire life.
For an unknown (to me) reason, when I saw this on British TV, it was called "A Night On The Town", a far inferior title than 'Adventures in Babysitting', although maybe they figured that parents would think this a children's movie...Anyway, the movie itself is charming in that way that only 1980s US comedy films are.
The characters, while not being very complicated, were warm and at least not entirely two-dimensional, and the little girl was quite cute and not extremely annoying as could have happened.Overall, I'd recommend it to hounds who love to watch 80s films..
Well, now I babysit and I'm glad I never got in the same situation, but it still made for a great and fun movie.Chris is a senior who has a big date planned with her boyfriend, but when he cancels, she is forced to babysit the Anderson's daughter, Sara.
Babysitting Was Never This Much Fun For Me. When I first saw this movie in the late 1980's I thought to myself how whenever I had babysat I had had a pretty boring night stuck in front of a TV hoping the kids wouldn't wake up crying and spoil the peace.
How I wish they had been more like this movie.Elizabeth Shue plays Chris Parker who is babysitting one night but due to certain circumstances ends up taking the kids out on the town in order to pick up one of her friends.
Uriel's Movie Reviews - Adventures in Babysitting***1/2 (1hr 39min)(Rated PG-13)The 1987 flick from future Harry Potter and Mrs. Doubtfire director Chris Columbus, Adventures in Babysitting is a good film and it has some fun moments in it.Its about a high school senior named Chris Parker(Elisabeth Shue) in a rich suburb of Chicago, where she has just been agrees to babysit for a pre-teen girl named Sara (Maia Brewton) and his older brother Brad(Keith Coogan), with his friend Daryl(Anthony Rapp).The children's parents leave for a party and the babysitter relaxes thinking this will be another boring night, however, she receives a call from her friend who just ran away from home and is at the train station in Chicago.
The babysitter cannot leave the children alone and so she takes them and one of the teenagers' friend on a wild and crazy adventure.In her pursuit to pick up her friend, they have to deal with being in a love quarrel where pistol is being fired, and then, being in a stolen car that results in gangster-like characters chasing them because they posses information about their operation.The reason why this movie is so good is that the characters are rich and come from a secluded suburban area who never had to deal with the hard life of the inner-city, and One interesting moment in the movie is when they were in a blues club and they were told they could not leave without singing the blues.This is really good, and also fun movie to enjoy..
Which is saying something.The characters are great, you've got Elisabeth Shue singing the blues, Penelope Ann Miller and Anthony Rapp with their funny lines and characters, Vincent D'Onofrio as Thor, handsome john pruitt with a hook for a hand, and not to mention Bradley Whitford as the always dirty scoundrel.
The opening scene of Adventures in Babysitting (curiously re-titled A Night on the Town for British audiences) has Elizabeth Shue's character Chris Parker dancing to an old record from the 1960s, as she gears up for a romantic evening out with a partner.
But then again, I'm a big fan of those two films and whilst Adventures in Babysitting is good fun; it does not hold up as a film nor as a realistic piece of entertainment.The most frustrating thing that glares the most out of the film, for me anyway, were the inconsistencies apparent within the character of Sara Anderson (Brewton) who is the youngest member of the family being babysat at eight years old; she is also the smartest and there's your problem.
The third example of Sara's inability to be an 8 year old human being, or indeed the writer's inability to create an 8 year old human being is when, shortly after they have been caught carjacking by a carjacker and are hurtling along to a gangster's warehouse, Sara pulls out a chocolate bar and finds it in her heart to offer some to all in the car  she is not terrified like her brother, his friend and Elizabeth are even if she should be the most terrified.But then we have to suspend belief to go along with the film's running gag; that these incompetent human beings can get their way out of any jam, no matter how difficult.
If your idea of comedy and tension is to have the kids actually stop and sing to a crowd of blues fans, this is the film for you; otherwise I am surprised they did not merely barge through the barrier and continue to escape  maybe they could've even asked for help from the musicians as they outrun the murderous gangsters.But whilst incompetence would have them go on this adventure in the first place as it is Brenda (Miller) who sparks the journey off, it is incompetence and inconsistency that actually gets them through the journey that matters.
Give it a try--it's not "rocket science" or Masterpiece Theatre, but it's good old fashioned silly fun.PS--watch ALL the movie--including the very end.
When she receives a frantic phone call from her friend who is stuck in downtown Chicago at night, suburban babysitter Chris (Elisabeth Shue) must head to the big city to help.
Adventures in Babysitting (1987).Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) has a date planed with her boyfriend but he has to cancel because his sister is sick.So she accepts an offer to baby sit a young girl and her older brother.As she is looking after them her fiend calls her from the city and tells Chris that she desperately needs her to pick her up from a bus station.Chris then has to drive herself and the 2 kids and and one of the kids friends into the city to pick up her friend.And as they are driving on the freeway they get a flat tire and they have no spear tire.And from there on lots of funny crazy stuff happens to them.This movie is a good 1980s comedy movie and if you like those kind of movies i highly recommend that you watch this movie.Elisabeth Shue is such a good actress she acts really well in this movie and you should watch her in her first movie The Karate Kid (1984) she is great in that movie.Over all i liked this movie a lot and my rating for this movie is six out of ten..
Little did she know that when she gets stood up that she would end up on the adventure of her life...with three little kids in tow.I've always like Elisabeth Shue, in everything she's done, but I feel that kudos in this movie don't go to her, but, rather, to the director, Chris Columbus.
It's so funny because he's in his teenage years where he is really awkward with girls but still tries to impress them.However, my favorite part has to be the beginning seen where Elizabeth Shue, the babysitter is singing and dancing aroung her room while she gets ready for her date..
This is a fun, humorous movie starring Elizabeth Shue as a high schooler who gets stuck babysitting hyper, manipulative kids.
The movie, while far from being great, is a lot of fun to watch, and has a lot of funny scenes and moments.
She goes to pick her up, with the 3 kids, and gets involved in some wild (and totally improbable) adventures while trying to find her friend.OK, this isn't a good movie--the plot is ridiculous, the kids act like adults (and vice versa) and most of the humor is pretty sophomoric.
He feels kind of sorry for these fish out of their own comfort pond and tries to help them as best he can.Adventures In Babysitting is a pretty funny teen comedy and definitely a Blockbuster Night's entertainment..
So, when I borrowed it from the library, learning that it was about a woman who agrees to take care of three kids and must revenge to save her friend who has ran away and spend the whole night trying to find her, I found the movie to be O.K. overall.I remember how it used to be called, "A Night on the Town" and I was baffled by the change in the title.17-year-old Chris Parker (Elizabeth Shue) is stood up by her boyfriend (Bradley Whitford).
While taking care of three kids, Brad, the older brother of the Anderson family, Sara, the bratty and bossy younger sister, and Daryl, the vigorous high-school boy whom we know is the best friend of Brad.
Adventures in Babysitting opens with a scene of a standard 80s teenager, Elizabeth Shue, dancing in her bedroom with white floral wallpaper while she puts her clothes on to 'And then he kissed me' designed to make all male viewers recoil within the first 15 seconds of the film and think of movies where Shue engages in a sex scene.
Shue, who plays Chris Parker, is then asked to babysit a young effeminate male with an attraction to older women and his younger sister who wears a distracting Thor helmet throughout the film only to be later joined by the young man's best friend, Dre-dog, who looks equally bi-curious but brings the funny.
I didn't like some of the other movies Elizabeth Shue made, but in this one it seems she made the audience happy.The characters are great, and the storyline is very good as well.
Whilst not the greatest premise ever seen (even for a teen movie) is not bad and when you sew in the sub plot of the relationship of the lead character (Elizabeth Shue) and a couple of cameo's by future television stars Bradley Whitford and Vincent D'Onofrio (with a particularly funny take on Thor).
I was 15 years old when I first watched this and while I knew even then that Adventures In Babysitting was aimed at a younger demographic like I was then,some of the content in this movie was appreciated even more by adults who had watched it.It's really a matter of individual interpretation what constitutes a great movie,but this one is actually a lot better than most give it credit for.Even though Elisabeth Shue was previously in The Karate Kid,I didn't really pay attention to her until this.She sure was a hottie then!Keith Coogan had pretty much fallen off the face of the Earth after this,Anthony Rapp has had a few projects on the go since,& I've seen Maia Brewton on an episode of The Wonder Years and appearances on a few other programs too.If you don't care to go out of your way to watch it,at least give it a chance if you're channel surfing on a lazy Sunday afternoon..
Well in this case we've got the very lovely Elisabeth Shue as a babysitter with three younger kids tagging along from the suburbs into the heart of the city's night life.So the starting point is not an original one, and neither is the plot.
It marked the transition of screenwriter Chris Columbus ("Gremlins", "Young Sherlock Holmes") into directing, and stars an incredibly appealing Elisabeth Shue as Chris, a high school senior who, unable to go on a date with her boyfriend (Bradley Whitford), reluctantly agrees to take a babysitting gig, even as she feels she's getting a little old for that sort of thing.
It has Chicago teenager Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) babysitting for some people, but a series of events lead her and the children on a wild goose chase all over the Windy City.
There are so many great quotes in this flick, but my favorite is at the end of the movie when after their "adventure", she says to the boy who is in love with her, "I don't ignore my friends!".
He was also in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket the same year this movie was released.Adventures In Babysitting is not a great film, just a light hearted film that is fun to watch, especially Shue's appealing character..
When her best friend (Penelope Anne Miller) calls her up and asks her for a lift in the city, she drags the kids along when she tries to rescue her friend from the bus station, but a flat tire is the beginning of an adventure that leads to the Liz and the gang being chased by gangsters who want a Playboy magazine with important information written on it (and a woman who looks kind of like Liz).Liz herself isn't bad, and it's a bit of a shame that she didn't get the kind of career that Julia Roberts later racked up..
A fun movie that has Elisabeth Shue (Back to the Future Part II) babysitting a group of children who start madcap adventures.
ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (1987) **1/2 Elisabeth Shue as a babe-o-licious babysitter who finds herself in many a predicament when she and her charges find themselves in the danger-plagued section of Chicago as she tries to help her friend Penelope Ann Miller get back home.
Elisabeth Shue (who does NOT look 35) is great as Chris the babysitter.
Titled 'A Night Out on the Town' here, this film was also one of my favourites when I was younger.'Adventures in Babysitting' is Chris Columbus' first film as director and it stars Elizabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), Keith Coogan (Toy Soldiers), Anthony Rapp (Dazed and Confused) and Penepole Anne Miller (Kindergarten Cop).
Elisabeth Shue stars in an early role as a babysitter who leaves with the kids for downtown Chicago to help a friend..then she gets a flat and misadventure after misadventure takes place..A good little comedy that the younger ones can watch and enjoy the troubles that happen on an eventful night for Shue and the kids..on a scale of one to ten..6.
It may not even be a good movie, but Adventures In Babysitting is one of the most delightful comedies of the '80's.
This movie was 2 thumbs up, its a comedy starring Elizabeth Shue, as Chris Parker, she's supposed to be celebrating her anniversy with her birthday but he calls it off and she winds up babysitting, her best friend (Penelope Ann Miller) calls saying she ran away from home is at a bus station down town chicago, so Chris takes the kids and they go to pick up the friend but they have a tire blow out and from then on everything goes wrong for them and everything that happens to them is funny like they have to sing to leave a place and the bad guys are chasing them, Sara (one of the kids chris is babysitting) winds up out side a sky scraper, they wind up at the same building thier parents are having a party in and they its funny!
this film is enjoyable for the whole family elisabeth shue played this role nicely even though she does seem a bit old for the part.