Cast: Michelle Trachtenberg, Vanessa Lee Chester, Gregory Smith, Charlotte Sullivan, Robert Joy, J.
Smith-Cameron, Rosie O'Donnell
Director: Bronwen Hughes
Producer: Marykay Powell
Screenplay: Theresa Rebeck and Douglas Petrie, based on the novel by Louise Fitzhugh
Cinematography: Francis Kenny
Music: Jamshied Sharifi
U.S. Distributor: Paramount Pictures
In a summer filled with big-budget, general release disappointments (including Mission Impossible and Independence Day), it's a pleasure to finally encounter a movie that can be described as a pleasant surprise. Making determinations based on its ill- conceived marketing campaign, one might be tempted to dismiss this motion picture as a piece of fluff designed for pre-teen girls. Nothing could be further from the truth. Harriet the Spy is an intelligent, insightful look at the tribulations of being a creative, misunderstood misfit at age eleven. Call it Welcome to the Dollhouse Lite.
Harriet the Spy, based on the popular novel by Louise Fitzhugh and directed by feature newcomer Bronwen Hughes, is the premiere theatrical film from the popular cable TV channel, Nickelodeon. Like Welcome to the Dollhouse, Harriet is about the difficulties of growing up when you're not a member of the "in crowd." It doesn't shrink from showing the pain that results from rejection, although the bitter, almost-vicious tone of Todd Solondz's movie is absent. Nevertheless, Harriet the Spy has enough honest, emotional truth to work for adults, while, unlike Dollhouse (which was designed for mature audiences), it remains suitable for pre-teens, to whom it will likely speak the most intimately.
Harriet Welsch (Michelle Trachtenberg) is an unusual sixth-grader. Instead of spending her time playing "tag" or "spin the bottle" with her schoolmates, she dons a yellow slicker, carries a notebook and pencil, and spies on people. From her vantage point in a tree, on a rooftop, outside a window, or even in a dumbwaiter, she watches, then jots down comments in her notebook about those she observes. There are even entries about her two best friends, Janie (Vanessa Lee Chester), a budding chemist, and Sport (Gregory Smith), a motherless boy who lives just above the poverty line. Harriet has been raised by a nanny named Golly (Rosie O'Donnell), who encourages her creativity. However, when Golly leaves, Harriet feels lost. And things go from bad to worse when the most popular girl in Harriet's class, Marion (Charlotte Sullivan), finds the notebook and reads the most damning passages aloud. As a result, Harriet becomes a pariah, shunned by even her friends. She plots revenge, but learns that vengeance can have a bitter taste.
To heighten its appeal for the under-12 crowd, Harriet the Spy uses MTV-like camera movements. The cinematography is kinetic, almost to the point of being distracting, with strange angles and numerous quick cuts. This, however, is what children are used to, and, admittedly, it keeps the film's energy level high. But the subtlety absent from the picture's visual aspect is more than compensated for on an emotional plane. As Harriet travels the long road from isolation to bittersweet revenge to redemption, we can see and feel her every change in emotion. This is a real person acting believably as dictated by a script that remains low-key. The ending is a little saccharine, but, considering the target audience, it's reasonable.
Certainly, one of the reasons Harriet effectively captures our sympathy is the fine performance by Michelle Trachtenberg (Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Pete & Pete), who exhibits the charisma of a younger Christina Ricci. Trachtenberg is very good in the title role, embodying all of Harriet's traits from youthful exuberance to petulance. The supporting cast is solid, with the exception of Rosie O'Donnell, who seems woefully miscast as the fortune cookie- spouting nanny. Eartha Kitt and Maury Chaykin have brief cameos.
As I look back over this summer's general releases, I have to admit that, at least to date, Harriet the Spy stands alongside, if not slightly above, the best of them. Hopefully, the same fate will not befall this movie as that which sunk last year's A Little Princess. This is as entertaining a family film as is likely to come out all year, topping Disney's lukewarm The Hunchback of Notre Dame and towering well above Flipper. And you certainly don't need children by your side to appreciate what Harriet the Spy has to offer. As the cliche goes, good things do indeed come in small packages.
© 1996 James Berardinelli