...smart, good-natured and fun.
Harriet the Spy (1996)
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:10
Rotten:16
Average Rating:4.8/10
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: The film adaptation of Louise Fitzhugh's bestselling children's novel, about Harriet, an independent, intelligent girl whose aspiration to become a writer ultimately lands her in some very hot... The film adaptation of Louise Fitzhugh's bestselling children's novel, about Harriet, an independent, intelligent girl whose aspiration to become a writer ultimately lands her in some very hot water... Encouraged by her sharp nanny, Harriet secretly begins writing about her observations of the world around her. This includes VERY candid (and often uncomplimentary) things about her schoolmates and buddies, including her two best friends. But Harriet's life is turned upside-down when classmates find her treasured notebook and read it aloud for everyone to hear. Feeling insulted and betrayed, the kids then retaliate against Harriet in the cruelest of ways. The young writer, now hated, isolated and embarrassed, must find a way to rebound from this unenviable situation. [More]
Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Vanessa Lee Chester, Gregory Edward Smith
Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Vanessa Lee Chester, Gregory Edward Smith, Eartha Kitt
Director: Bronwen Hughes
Director: Bronwen Hughes
Story: Louise Fitzhugh
Screenwriter: Douglas Petrie, Theresa Rebeck
Composer: Jamshied Sharifi
Reviews for Harriet the Spy
...in busily updating the '60s story for the more worldly '90s, the filmmakers have ended up, ironically, with a product much more naively juvenile than the original.
While the well-loved novel was apparently about the admirable battle a kid must wage in order to become an artist in the face of peer disapproval, the movie seems to be about a mean-spirited tyke who has no scruples.
...doesn't live up to its promise as a movie that could have had a lot of fun exploiting the ingenuity-themed construct.
A very draggy affair because Harriet’s exploits are treated like an episodic laundry list.
A below mediocre adaptation of the popular novel that is nonetheless served well by the two female leads, but all representative of the adults world (parents, teachers, psychologists) are narrow, standard-issue constructions.
Nick's methodology is way, way, outta synch with the spirit of Louise Fitzhugh's award-winning book.
There's dancing, and bubble blowing and bed bouncing that's entirely aimless and Harriet's neighborhood sleuthing becomes particularly pointless.
Harriet the Spy has real character in some of its details, but it never feels like much more than a low-budget TV show.
There's a certain amateurish quality about Harriet the Spy, but it's more the TV-trained grownups behind the camera...than the pint-sized thespians in front of it.
The whimsical and meaningless first part dissolves into a mean spirited and disturbing concluding section.
At least they didn't make the nanny's umbrella handle a talking parrot.
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