Awesomely Horrible Netflix Instant Movies: “Adventures In Babysitting”

There are certain touchstone movies that we remember fondly from childhood. Then you watch them years later and wonder why the hell you were so obsessed with it. It could be that this particular film appealed to me because it starred Elizabeth Shue and I think she's super hot. What I do know is that I watched my videotape of Adventures in Babysitting until it wore out. Maybe it's because I too like Thor a lot or just because I wish Elizabeth Shue was my babysitter. What I do know is that it's awesome and horrible.

Elizabeth Shue stars as Chris Parker, a young girl who decides to take a babysitting job after her boyfriend cancels their date. One of the kids is a teenager a couple of years younger than Elizabeth, a young girl who is a nut for the comic book character Thor (she wears a Thor helmet all the time), and the teenage boy's goofy best friend. Elizabeth Shue gets a call from her best friend who has run away to the bus station. So, she decides to leave the suburbs with the kids to go to Chicago to pick her up. Then they have a flat tire which leads to them getting into all kinds of trouble. They get kidnapped, they witness a crime, they are forced to sing the blues, (like you do), and end up at a frat party. They have to find enough money to pay for the new tire and have all kinds of problems doing so. Eventually, they get 45% but the evil mechanic won't give it to them until the young girl offers her Thor helmet...which I guess is currency in Chicago. They make it home just in time for their parents to get home. Whew!

This was Chris Columbus' first movie and you can tell. It's cutesy, which is Columbus' M.O. Still it's pretty entertaining and good to watch while drunk on bourbon on a rainy Sunday.