"Harriet the Spy" A Film Review by Linda Lopez McAlister on "The Women's Show" WMNF-FM 88.5, Tampa, FL July 20, 1996 This week, instead of talking about women and film, I'm here to talk about girls and film, inspired by having seen "Harriet the Spy" earlier in the week. Since I don't have any kids or grandkids of my own, and it seemed like a good idea to have a kid along when you're planning to review a kids' movie, I borrowed one for the occasion. But my smart and charming soon-to-be six companion turned out to be a bit too young for this particular movie so her attention wandered and my viewing of the film was, therefore, interrupted by sporadic whispered disagreements about the necessity for a second round of Reese's cups and a couple of bathroom breaks. Nonetheless, I saw enough to form an opinion about the film from my adult perspective and to speculate that older kids, say 9 to 12 or so, might well be captivated by "Harriet the Spy." This film is, of course, based on the best-selling children's book of the same name, written by Louise Fitzhugh, that has enchanted and inspired a lot of girls over the years, hungry for literature about smart, active, girls. The filmmakers are mostly women, including director Bronwen Hughes, producer Marykay Powell, and co-screenwriter Theresa Rebeck. This is the first feature release from televisions's Nickelodeon channel and it's clearly aimed at an audience of kids used to seeing trendy cinematic effects on tv. I have to admit that all that fancy camera work and editing was lots of fun for me to watch and when the story dragged a bit I found I could always amuse myself by observing the clever shot-making. But it didn't drag much. It's the story of Harriet (Michelle Trachtenberg) a bright, motivated, urban, only-child of comfortable if somewhat clueless parents and who aspires to be a writer. She has been taken care of, since birth, by a live-in Nanny named Ole Golly (Rosie O'Donnell), a kind of tough love version of Mary Poppins, who gives good advice and encourages Harriet to pursue her dream to become a writer by studying people. Harriet does this by spying on anyone and everyone in her surroundings who catches her interest and then writing down her detailed observations in her special, decidedly private, notebook. It is through her entries in the notebook that we are introduced to her best friends Janie and Sport (Vanessa Lee Chester and Gregory Smith), her enemies, and the interesting people who live in her neighborhood. Golly encourages the development of the kids' imagination and creativity by introducing them to other free spirits, including a lady who owns a magical garden filled with all manner of cool things to play with and do, resulting in a long sequence that was obviously great fun to make and to watch. Fairly early on in the film, however, Golly manages not to have Harriet home from one of their evening outings until after Harriet's parents get home. Coming home to an emply house scares them and in her fright, Harriet's mother fires Golly, then thinks better of it, but by then it's too late and Golly had decided it's time to move on anyway. Harriet is crushed, but tries to go on with her life. Soon, however, her spying gets her into big trouble when her arch rival steals her private notebook and reads out loud to everyone what Harriet has written about them. Even her friends desert her, everyone conspires to "get her," to which she responds by systematically plotting revenge against them. My little companion didn't like that part, where they were all being mean to one another, at all. Well, you just know Ole Golly is going to come back and give sage advice and save the day. She does, moral lessons are taught and absorbed, and it turns out all right in the end. Okay, so plot innovations aren't the strong point of the film. What is a strong point is having a smart, active, caring girl as the hero of the story, one who is far from perfect and has her problems but manages, with the help of a wise, loving, adult woman, to navigate and learn from adversity. Even my five-year-old companion, despite lapses in attention, was proclaiming as she left the theater that when she got old enough to write she wanted "to be a spy and learn, learn, learn." Any film that can plant that seed in a little girl's head is okay in my book and well worth the cost of admission, not to mention candy, and the after-movie ice cream cone that substituted for the longed-for Reese's cups. For the WMNF Women's Show, this is Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and Film. Copyright 1996. All rights reserved. Please do not copy or reproduce this review without permission of the author: mcaliste@chuma.cas.usf.edu.