The Baby-Sitters Club

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: August 18, 1995

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

48	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

David Sterritt

The movie is fresh and friendly, but it doesn't have many surprises and the story sags at times. [25 Aug 1995, p.13]

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Surprisingly, it's not bad on the whole (in an Afterschool Special kind of way), and the young stars are uniformly appealing, especially Schuyler Fisk (Sissy Spacek's daughter) and CROOKLYN's Zelda Harris. Read full review

Edward Guthmann

Mayron, who directed a remake of the Disney comedy Freaky Friday for TV, took on a lot with The Baby-Sitters Club, and the strain shows. She's got too many characters to establish -- several adults besides the girls -- and her movie feels under-rehearsed, as if she hadn't been given the benefit of preparation and wasn't allowed to get as many takes as she needed of most scenes. Read full review

Caryn James

The movie The Baby-Sitters Club offers the same comfort factor as the books, but suffers from a definite lack of excitement. Read full review

Leonard Klady

The picture’s problem is that it is small in every way. It’s modestly budgeted, and boasts a simple, unflamboyant story. Its score is bland and nondescript, the performers are scrubbed, and everything is tied up in a neat, white bow. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

The Baby-sitters Club movie, written by Dalene Young and directed by Melanie Mayron, winds up seeming just as packaged and programmed as many of its summer competitors. The books, however obvious, don't talk down to their youthful readers. But the movie does. [18 Aug 1995, p.F]

Jay Boyar

You don't have to be a baby sitter to like The Baby-sitters Club, but it would help. It also would help if you're in early adolescence. [18 Aug 1995, p.20]

Carrie Rickey

There's no rhythm or rhyme to it. The subplots don't organically connect to the main narrative. It's a series of brightly lit tableaux in which we see the end result of an action but never the action itself. [18 Aug 1995, p.03]

Ellen Futterman

Director Melanie Mayron (Melissa of thirtysomething) has created a relatively winsome movie specifically targeted to a long-neglected group of youngsters. That said, Baby-sitters isn't great stuff, and adults might find themselves annoyed at the obvious plot holes and questions. [18 Aug 1995, p.3E]