Harriet the Spy (1996)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Harriet the Spy (1996): Dir: Bronwen Hughes / Cast: Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Gregory Smith, Vanessa Lee Chester, Eartha Kitt: Wonderful family film that teaches children the value of trust and friendship. Harriet is an observer who oversees the pain of those around her but is nonchalant to the fact that she can cause pain too. Harriet wishes to become a writer so she prowls the streets in witness. At home she is in the care of her nanny who is fired when she and a date take Harriet to a movie. A game of bumper tag lands her pad in the wrong hands and awful truths surface that cause distance from her friends. Beautiful locations accompany an eye for detail. Stylish directing by Bronwen Hughes who creates a family film that parents can engage in with their children due to the themes it raises. Michelle Trachtenberg delivers a spunky performance as Harriet with conviction and curiosity. Rosie O'Donnell is strong as Harriet's nanny who views things at face value. Gregory Smith and Vanessa Lee Chester play her friends who must decide whether or not to forgive or to reduce themselves to the lows of other classmates. Eartha Kitt also makes an appearance as some mysterious individual observed by Harriet. Here is a family film that raises questions as well as entertain. Themes of friendship and forgiveness result in one of the best family films of the decade. Score: 10 / 10

I saw this movie with my dad when it came out in the theaters -AHHH! IT CAME OUT IN IN 1996!!! I FEEL SO OLD!!-...ahem-sorry, my age just slapped me in the face. Anywho, we were watching the movie and the movie went out just as Harriett was taking out all her supplies from various places, and I remember telling my dad, "Maybe they don't want us to know where she keeps her things." The reason I bring up that random memory is because I remember it. I was so entranced by it, I remember saying that. I use to love this movie. The movie use to depress me, though, as Harriet loves all her friends thanks to her spying. Anyway, the acting is OK. Granted, it's no "Shakespeare in love", but it's OK. The story is also very out there, however, that's not fair for me to say, as I can't remember the storyline!

I love this movie. It is just so much fun. Michelle Trachtenberg was so adorable as Harriet M. Welsch, the little kid detective. Watch this with your kids, parents. It is so funny! I highly recommend this movie to everybody. Everyone will love it. Especially the kids. It teaches them a good lesson. It taught me one when I was little.The plot is so silly but so fun that it makes the movie so fun. I loved watching it when I was little. Me being older now, 15, makes me a little less into it but I still adore this and I watch it with my little cousin Lydia every Thanksgiving. She loves it as much as I do. Watch this movie. It's so awesome!

I saw Harriet the Spy when it first came out and bought the video about a year ago. I had read the book back in the early eighties in the fifth grade and had never forgotten it. I always thought that it would make a good film (along with the Narnia tales and A Wrinkle in Time). The book was very engrossing and seemed a lot smarter and less condescending than some of the other books that wound up on school library 'recommended' lists. The movie contains the same wit and utter lack of condescension, making it a rarity in the world of tweenage cinema. Michelle Trachtenberg is very good. Her innate charisma and complete chemistry with Rosie o'Donnell make for perfect casting. Ms. O'Donnell herself shows once again how well she can carry off playing these quiet nurturing roles. (for another good performance by Rosie, see also Wide Awake)Harriet seems like a typical albeit intelligent kid. Her friends are like real friends: they can be there for you and they can turn on you if they themselves feel under attack. This defense/offense posture is typical in a child's world. and that's what's great about Harriet the Spy. You never feel that the film is talking down to its audience or trying to present the child world in such a sweetened watered-down way so as to placate adults. Harriet and her friends have their little quirks. there's also the other kids who have wierdnesses about them that if we try hard we can all relate to. For instance, there exists in every classroom a perfect Teacher's Pet like Marion Hawthorne. There is also a Pinky Whitehead and a boy with purple socks. (probably me back then haha) the important thing is that the movie accepts their world without whitewashing or judging them for it. Those posters who felt that the movie was juvenile must understand that it WAS written for children. That doesn't however mean that adults should avoid it. It contains several themes that can be discussed and understood by anyone: Coping with school, Coping with Growing Up, Trouble with peers and miscommunication and isolation with parents and peers alike. As i said earlier, The character of Harriet was well thought-out. They could've done a little better fleshing out the character of Janie. If i remember correctly, she had a somewhat larger role in the book. But they actually improved on Sport's role.Some people have complained that the movie is disjointed and at times unrealistic. Well, try and think back to when you were eleven. wasn't the world somewhat surreal and disjointed? The movie is from The subjective lens of Harriet's minds-eye, an eye that see things with more than a little wit and imagination. Think back...then you'll get it.