Product Description

Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) agrees to babysit after her "dream" date stands her up. Expecting a dull evening, Chris settles down with three kids for a night of TV ... and boredom. But when her frantic friend Brenda calls and pleads to be rescued from the bus station in downtown Chicago, the evening soon explodes into an endless whirl of hair-raising adventures! Babysitter and kids leave their safe suburban surroundings and head for the heart of the big city, never imagining how terrifyingly funny their expedition will become.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1723 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2000-01-18
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
Way before she grabbed an Oscar nomination for her searing performance as a world-weary prostitute in Leaving Las Vegas, Elisabeth Shue was known as one of the squeaky-clean actresses of the '80s. Having made a splash in The Karate Kid and the '60s-nostalgia TV series Call to Glory, Shue cemented her good-girl reputation with the charming but badly titled Adventures in Babysitting. Set in the John Hughes-style suburbs of Chicago, the titular adventures follow babysitter Chris (Shue), who agrees to watch the Anderson kids (Keith Coogan and Maia Brewton) when her boyfriend cancels their anniversary date. All is quiet on the home front until Chris is called upon to rescue her best friend (Penelope Ann Miller, also doing good-girl duty) from the seedy downtown bus station. She can't leave the kids, and she can't leave her friend alone in the big bad city, so she packs everyone in the station wagon and heads into Chicago. Screwball craziness begins as they encounter car thieves, knife-wielding gangs, gun-toting truck drivers, and, worst of all, Chris's duplicitous boyfriend. It's hardly mature entertainment, but Shue makes it work; when she wins over the audience at a blues club with her improv singing, you'll be won over, too. In his directorial debut, Chris Columbus (who later went on to helm the sap-fests Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone) gently skewers the suburbia white-bread mindset of the main characters, and plays up the comedy over the schmaltz with a subtlety of which he now seems incapable; the near romance between Shue and Coogan is played lightly and adorably. Look for brief appearances by art-house faves Lolita Davidovich as a college party girl and Vincent D'Onofrio as an unlikely savior. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews

Elisabeth Shue's Babysitter Blues - a fun romp for the kids
Beginning your movie with the right song can get you off to a good start and "Adventures in Babysitting" gives us that golden oldie "And Then He Kissed Me" as Chris Parker prepares for her big date with her boyfriend. Unfortunately, this clown promptly proceeds to dump our heroine, which only proves he is a fool because Chris is played by Elisabeth Shue. Those of us who remember "Call to Glory" already knew that Shue was a babe and so does Brad Anderson (Keith Coogan), the kid who is too old for the babysitter on whom he has a mondo crush. Into the mix we add Sara Anderson (Maia Brewton), the adorable kid sister who has a thing for the Mighty Thor from Marvel Comics (she must have got the cool Thor helmet from Stan Lee, Jack Kirby or somebody in the ol' Bullpen), Daryl Coopersmith (Anthony Rapp), Brad's best friend who has yet to learn when to shut up, and Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller), Chris' best friend who is stuck in downtown Chicago at a bus depot without her glasses, having decided that running away from home was a bad idea. Unfortunately for our heroine, deciding to simply go down and pick up Brenda proves to be a bad idea. With the three kids in tow, Chris takes off for the big city. When the station wagon gets a flat tire that is only the first in a massive chain of misfortunes that befall our plucky lass. There will be a tow truck man with a claw, street thugs with knives on the El, gangster in a chop shop, a college frat party, a close encounter with the parental units at a party high at top a skyscraper, and a delightful session of singing "The Babysitter Blues."

In its own way, "Adventures in Baby Sitting is in the mold of the Indiana Jones films, where the cast of characters are stuck on a roller coaster of exciting encounters. Our harried heroine puts up with all of this in order to save her friend and get the kids home before their parents find out they have spent the night narrowly escaping death instead of being safe at home watching the tube. Even though there is a running gag that Chris looks exactly like the Playmate of the Month, this is a movie aimed for kids in the age range of her charges. There is enough of a cartoonish element to the bad guys to take the edge off of the dangers involved and of course we know from the first note of the movie that everything will turn out okay in the end and Chris is going to top off the evening by getting kissed by someone who might actually deserve her. Shue's natural performance holds the film together and although she has gone on to decidedly more dramatic roles in her more recent films, she evinces a natural flair for comedy in this one. However, be warned: once your kidlets have seen this 1987 Disney film they are going to be grossly disappointed in whoever you pay to watch them the next time you go out for a night of fun. Final note: Be sure to watch the entire credits at the end.

a classic 80's comedy
Another classic 80's comedy, ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (aka "A Night on the Town") comes to DVD to delight old fans and new.

When highschool senior Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) decides to spend Saturday night babysitting the Anderson kids Sara (Maia Brewton) and Brad (Keith Coogan) as well as Brad's best friend Daryl (Anthony Rapp), no one, not least Chris, will be prepared for the wild ride ahead, when Chris' best friend Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller) phones and begs to be rescued from the Chicago bus depot after an aborted attempt to run away. Chris bundles the kids in the car and heads for downtown Chicago, but after getting stranded thanks to a flat tyre, the gang end up in a mess of trouble!

This is such a fun film. Elisabeth Shue glows as Chris and offers one of her funniest comedy performances. Whilst she is best-remembered by most film critics for her role in "Leaving Las Vegas", to 80's kids like me, she'll forever be fondly regarded as Chris in AIB.

Anthony Rapp, Keith Coogan and Maia Brewton are hilarious in their roles, and Penelope Ann Miller is a scream in the film's clever subplot of Brenda's adventures in the bus depot. The film also features early turns from Vincent d'Onofrio, Bradley Whitford and George Newbern.

The DVD is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen, with no extras whatsoever, but fans will just be happy to finally have this 80's gem on DVD. A bargain price too.

Really good comedies are hard to come by...
This is one of those rare gems!
Everyone, I believe, can relate to the craziness that goes on here.... it is just taken to the extreme in this movie.
Elizabeth Shue is fantastic as the babysitter. One of the most memorable lines is when she proclaims... "I'm the babysitter!".
Not to be missed. Enjoyable for everyone. Must see classic and timeless comedy.