A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
Lessons on being true to yourself. Being a writer is more than writing words into a notebook and passing harsh judgment on everyone around you -- it also requires empathy and understanding. Pursuing your life's ambitions requires passion, dedication, and tenacity.
Positive Role Models
Harriet is an aspiring writer who's constantly writing in her notebook. She finds ways to spy on her neighbors and friends, and when her notebook is stolen by one of the popular girls and read aloud, she must learn a lesson that being a writer is much more than passing mean judgment and cruel observations about her friends, classmates, and neighbors.
Violence & Scariness
Some bullying. An ostracized girl gets a bucket of blue paint "accidentally" dumped on her clothing, and then her classmates pretend to "clean it up" but merely add more paint to the situation. This girl responds by slapping one of her attackers hard in the face.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
The class is shown watching old classroom movies with titles such as Girl to Woman and Boy to Man. Harriet talks in a voice-over of how one of the girls in her class is "growing boobs"; as she says this, the same girl is bending over to pick up something off the floor while all the boys in the class try to stare down her shirt. This girl's bra is later hung from the school flagpole as an act of revenge.
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While her friends and classmates kick around ideas for a game to play, Harriet calls one idea "retarded." Some name-calling, talk of "dorks" and "de-dorkification." "Crap." Talk of how the snooty popular girl in school makes Harriet and her friends want to go on a "psycho killing spree," and one of her friends talks of using her chemistry knowledge to poison her. Harriet writes that if she had to live like one of her classmates, "I'd hang myself."
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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
Harriet talks back to her parents about how they drink martinis every night.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Harriet the Spy is a 1997 adaptation of the popular book in which a tween girl "spies" on her friends, classmates, and neighbors and learns a tough lesson on how words can hurt when her secret notebook is stolen by her arch-nemesis and read aloud. There's some bullying, especially when Harriet is ostracized by her peers; it's primarily verbal taunting and silent-treatment shunning but also chasing Harriet throughout the neighborhood and her getting blue paint "accidentally" dumped on her clothes at school. When the entire class joins in on smearing paint all over Harriet's face and clothes, she retaliates by slapping her arch-nemesis hard in the face, then exacts systematic and humiliating revenge on all her peers. In one scene, Harriet calls an idea "retarded." There are also melodramatic proclamations from Harriet and her friends about how a snotty popular classmate makes them want to go on a "psycho killing spree" and Harriet's aspiring chemist friend talks of poisoning the popular girl. The class is shown watching old classroom movies with titles such as Girl to Woman and Boy to Man. Harriet talks in a voice-over of how one of the girls in her class is "growing boobs"; as she says this, the same girl is bending over to pick up something off the floor while all the boys in the class try to stare down her shirt. This girl's bra is later hung from the school flagpole as an act of revenge. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Is It Any Good?
This is a great story, but there's too much plot and not enough character development. Louise Fitzhugh's book of the same title has been a favorite of several generations of girls. They're the best audience for this movie, which brings the story faithfully to life (but moves it from Manhattan of the 1960s to a blander, unidentified city of the present). The problem is that the film too often gets lost amid long, uninteresting scenes involving Harriet, her friends, and their escapades.
We want to learn more about some of the colorful characters Harriet spies on. The movie spends just enough time with them to catch our attention, then disappoints us by forgetting about them. The only character we come to know is Harriet, who tests our sympathy by writing down mean observations about her classmates. The highlight of Harriet the Spy is Rosie O'Donnell's performance as Golly.
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.