Customer Reviews

Babysitter [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Robert Coover's 1969 short story "The Babysitter" (included in his ground-breaking collection "Pricksongs and Descants") is a masterpiece of postmodern short fiction. The beauty of the story was its ambiguity and the way truth and fantasy seamlessly blended into each other until the reader is left completely unable to discern between reality and fantasy.

While this film adaptation blends the characters' fantasies with reality, it ultimately settles on a solid reality for its ending.

The other problem that many viewers may have is that there really isn't a whole lot that happens in the film, and while this is directly from the story, it doesn't make for much of a cinematic experience.

Ultimately, this is probably for two groups of people: hardcore Alicia Silverstone fans (her performance in the film is decent) and hardcore Robert Coover fans (there have to be some others out there). Other than that, this film doesn't have much to offer.

After watching Clueless and falling for the looks of Alicia Silverstone, I thought I'd try out some of her other stuff. I have to say that as much as I like her, the film was pretty bad. The storyline was terrible and the acting was pretty poor. I only recommend watching this to get a look at Alicia, but if you want a good movie, go elsewhere.

This movies not to bad if you have nothing else to watch and you like Alicia Silverstone. The plot is not good, and the acting is worse. The only bright spot in the movie is Alicia. But that's just my opinion. You can see the movie and form your own.

It's not her best movie, but it's ok I think. I must say I found the plot a bit screwed - but Alicia's so wonderfull that she alone makes it worth watching. END

Perhaps the movie writers wanted to put a spin on the classic "babysitter gets into trouble" storyline, but then again, maybe it's all just a trick by the writers to get teens to watch what more often than not morphs into strong sexual content.

It's about Alicia Silverstone's character playing the role of a babysitter. Well... what happens next caught me by surprise, and not in a positive way either.

From here, we're introduced to 3 different men who obviously want in Alicia's pants VERY badly.

The first one is apparently her nerdy boyfriend who isn't on the best terms with Alicia at the moment (hence the reason she needs time away from him), a greasy-haired arrogant punk who hangs around the nerdy boyfriend and attempts to befriend him ONLY because he too wants in Alicia's pants, and the father of the kids Alicia is babysitting who goes to a party and fantasizes about Alicia while drunk.

The ENTIRE MOVIE is nothing but a HUGE sexual fantasy involving the 3 characters I mention above and the many different ways they'd like to have sex with the poor, vulnerable babysitter. Everything from making out with Alicia in the bathtub, to thinking about Alicia getting caught making out with another man and having her be punished as a result, to... *anything* that involves sex or making out. It's honestly quite disturbing, not to mention doesn't exactly make for quality storytelling, hence the 3 stars out of 5 I'm giving the film.

If that's not bad enough, later on even MORE characters fantasize about Alicia! Yes she's an attractive girl but come on, this is borderline pathetic. Of course the BIGGEST problem here is that it's hard to tell the difference between what is fantasy and what is really occuring. Many times it's confusing figuring out the difference between the two.

Overall, it's not much of a movie to be perfectly honest, because one sexual fantasy leading into another is not really compelling enough to recommend, however I suppose we can look at it from another perspective and realize that the movie writers were probably going for a slight spin on the typical babysitter storyline so... still, the final result is a mediocre movie.

I love Alicia Silverstone's early movies. Is a great addition to my movie library. Odd little tale of men and their out of control libidos and overactive imaginations/fantasies. Has a great surprise ending. Saw it years ago when it first came out, and hadn't seen it in years. Should be shown more often. Well, I can watch anytime now. Got the best deal at Amazon. Amazon is the best place to find the hardest to find items at the best prices. Highly recommend the DVD and Amazon.

Alicia fanatics (I am one) find her always easy to watch because of her looks but also for her first rate acting ability.

I thought the movie was hilarious. J. T. Walsh. George Segal and Lee Garlington (especially her) portray how foolish people their age act.

The directing and editing are first rate.

i was at first excited to see the movie because it looked semi-promising, but i absolutely hated it. i don't dislike alicia, but i'm not a big fan of her and she had absolutely no personality in this movie whatsoever. i know what the director was trying for, and they did not accomplish it at all. there was no background, no plot, and too much of a depressing setting. the thing that annoys me is it could have been good and the idea behind it was good, but the carry-out totally missed the target. the ending was not built up enough, and there was no reason for what happened. it also never explained why alicia didn't want to see her b/f (the football kid with the glasses)or why she was mad at him, which was an ridiculously underdeveloped side plot. no offense to any fans of it, but i do not recommend this movie at all, unless you like underdeveloped themes and characters, or unless you are a HARDCORE alicia fan (which i am not, so it made the movie that much worse).

I have always loved this movie, it has 3 young stars, 2 of which aren't really huge stars, but Nikki Katt was a talent that went long unnoticed. And don't get me wrong, Jeremy london and Alicia the hottie are both VERY good in this movie. Everything about this movie is really good except for the story unfortunately. The story didn't have much substance but didn't need to. It has a simple plot, and let's the actors get into all of these trouble situations that teens get into.

The other side actors are all very good certainly including the father.

But the real reason to watch this movie is Alicia Silverstone's skin. WOW!!!. What a beautiful thing to behold. I know that I could write a VERY long review on how beatiful she is, but for how young she was in this movie, I have a feeling that I would spend an hour writing and then it wouldn't show up , so screw it, you all know what she looks like, SO GIVE ME THE ENTIRE FILM STRIP YOU USED TO MAKE THIS AND I WILL PAY ANYTHING.

Ok, lets face it: we all know this movie hasn't done too well and the main reason for wanting to view it is because it stars the beautiful and talented Alicia Silverstone, right? OK. Knowing this, I paid my $ and sat down to watch it not expecting too much. I figured that I couldn't be too disappointed because I wasn't expecting much other than another opportunity to appreciate Ms. Silverstone. Unfortunately I was VERY disappointed. Although Alicia turns in another good performance (and looks stunning as always) the film is downright painful to watch. In the first place it is boring, but it's much worse than that--it's OBNOXIOUSLY boring. I'm not a prude, but having to sit through all the sick-o sexual fantasy scenes in this movie was too much. The plot was totally unbelievable with Alicia in the bathtub of the house she is babysitting in for much of the flick (yeah, right--how many babysitters spend the evening in the bathtub?). I was so relieved when the anti-climactic ending arrived, simply because the movie was finally over. Without giving the end of the movie away, I can tell you that Alicia's final words to one of the characters was something like: "How could you? What were you thinking?" I thought that was a hoot. I wanted to ask HER the same thing about agreeing to appear in this loser of a flick: "How could you? What were you thinking?"