The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)

"Wow... we could buy a car!"

"Yeah, and in five years we could drive it!"

The Baby-Sitters Club are excited about summer vacation.  Club president Kristi Thomas (Fisk) has the great idea to hold a summer camp for their regulars.  The rest of the club agrees to give up their summer to run the camp, and get permission to have the camp at Mary Anne Spier (Cook) and Dawn Schafer's (Oleynik) backyard.

Meanwhile, the club is dealing with outside issues.  Kristy's father (Peter Horton) is back in town and wants Kristy to keep his presence a secret, which means lying to her family and friends.  Stacey McGill (Blair) falls for an older boy and lies about her age.  Claudia Kishi (Joe) has to go to summer school, which she must pass or her parents will force her to quit the club.  Mary Anne's boyfriend Logan (O'Brien) is being pursued by Cokie Mason (Sokoloff) and her entourage, while they pick on Mary Anne.  And Dawn has to deal with their new neighbor Mrs. Haberman (Burstyn), who does not like having the camp disrupting her peaceful life.  Can the club and their friendship survive camp and the summer?


I grew up reading Ann M. Martin's "The Baby-Sitter's Club" books.  The series began in 1986, with Martin writing the first 35 books.  In 1990 other authors starting writing the series, while still publishing as Martin.  The series ended in 1999 with book #131, along with 15 Super Specials, 36 Mysteries, 4 Super Mysteries, Portrait Collections, 3 Special Edition Readers' Requests, and 12 Friends Forever books.  There were also 3 spinoff series: The Baby-Sitters Little Sister, The Kids in Mrs. Colman's Class, California Diaries.  In 1990 it became an HBO TV series, with 13 episodes.  Over the course of the series, there were 10 members of the club, and they were all perpetually in Middle School.

I enjoyed the book series, and was lucky enough to have a good friend that owned the majority of the series.  I remember loving the series, but I also remember outgrowing the books around Middle School.  This film captures the joy of the series, while providing a new story for fans to dive into.  The cast were popular teen actresses, many of which are still acting today.  I enjoyed the film, but I wish it focused more on the club as a whole and not just on Kristy's issue.  That said, it is a decent teen film, that still kind-of holds up today.  A must-see for girls reading the books.

The Baby-Sitters Club (1995) 94 minutes
Director: Melanie Mayron
Starring: Schuyler Fisk as Kristy Thomas
Bre Blair as Stacey McGill
Rachael Leigh Cook as Mary Anne Spier
Larisa Oleynik as Dawn Schafer
Tricia Joe as Claudia Kishi
Stacy Linn Ramsower as Mallory Pike
Zelda Harris as Jessi Ramsey
Christian Oliver as Luca
Jessica Needham as Karen Brewer
Ellen Burstyn as Mrs. Haberman
Austin O'Brien as Logan Bruno
Marla Sokoloff as Cokie Mason
Aaron Michael Metchik as Alan Gray