Harriet the Spy

Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Gregory Smith, Vanessa Chester, J. Smith-Cameron, Robert Joy, Eartha Katt, Charlotte Sullivan, Maury Chaykin (uncredited), Danny Glover (uncredited)
Directed by: Bronwen Hughes
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Drama
1996

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Harriet (Michelle Trachtenberg) loves spying on people. But, when her friends discover her secret notebook, it threatens to ruin all the relationships she has at school.

Review:

Tim: I wasn't a fan of Harriet the Spy. I've never read the book, so I went into this film a blank slate. I never got around to seeing this when I was more of the right demographic (unless I did and have zero memory of it), so I watched this film with my seven year-old son. I'm sure some things got lost in the decades since the movie's release, but even by putting myself in a 1996 frame of mind, I believe this is a bad movie.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I loved the book, but the whole thing seemed a bit odd. Our main character is a "spy", but she's basically just a snoop, eavesdropping on people and writing unkind things in her notebook. She has an unfortunate situation at home- her parents are mostly absent, but she does have a caring nanny. The movie never really sells this, though. Why should we care about Harriet, other than her name is in the title? The script never gives us a compelling reason. The main thrust of the movie is that her secret notebook is read by her classmates, where she's written horrible things about most of them. Some of it is "brutally honest", but none of it is kind. She (as you might expect), loses all her friends. The rest of the movie is a combination of them getting revenge on her and her getting revenge on them, before she wises up (influenced by her nanny) to make up and repair the friendships. I guess there's some lessons about being kind and fixing broken relationships here, but none of this makes an especially enjoyable viewing. Most of the characters behave badly throughout the film, so there's not that many great characters. I continually cringed at the dialogue and behaviors of the children and wished I hadn't subjected my son to seeing this. The whole thing feels off. I think much of this had to do with how the story was presented.

I don't know much about Bronwen Hughes, but it looks like she's mostly been a television director. She's directed episodes of some excellent shows, but her movies have been few and mostly failures. I think that's really at the heart of this. Hughes is a television director, which isn't very impressive. She can be successful in that medium, but this movie was beyond her. It was her feature film directorial debut and she didn't execute well. I do believe this could have been a good movie, but Hughes' lack of talent holds the film back.

I did think Michelle Trachtenberg did a great job in the lead role. She was too young to know the movie around her was bad, so she throws her entire self into the role. Her energy, her comedic timing, it's all quite good. She makes for a great Harriet and when she's not held back by the script, she gives an especially strong performance. I don't know what happened to her career, but it hasn't been impressive. Watching this movie, I have no idea why- she shows incredible promise in this role. She deserved a better career than she got.

I did read reviews that praised Rosie O'Donnell and I simply cannot understand why. I hated her performance. I'm assuming she delivered something in line with the book, but her performance felt so forced. It looked like she was so uncomfortable, playing a character she didn't fully understand or connect with. I don't think O'Donnell is a great actress under the best of circumstances, but this role felt beyond her. It's a critical role in the film and I simply didn't believe her in it. This definitely hurts the movie.

Harriet the Spy might not be a terrible movie, but it's definitely a bad one. Nickelodeon wasn't exactly known for putting out the best of movies, but this feels like a watered down, lowest common denominator film. It was the first film to come from Nickelodeon and it started off on a weak position. The story could have had depth to it and been significantly better. Getting an inexperienced director didn't help, but the script itself was quite poor. The movie rushes its conclusion, which makes no logical sense and is far too convenient and unrealistic. In short, this movie is a misfire and should be skipped.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 5.5



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