Adventures in Babysitting

While babysitting the neighbours' brats, 17-year-old Chris (Shue) gets an SOS call from her chubby chum Brenda (Miller), who has run away from home and is stranded at a downtown bus depot. Bundling her charges into the family Chevy, Chris sets off on a rescue mission, and ends up running the gauntlet of big city perils in a belaboured spinning-out of a weak storyline. The central issue is how the babysitters will explain away to doting parents the death, disfigurement or molestation of randy adolescents Brad and Daryl and nine-year-old Sara (a goofball of cute), should the batty lorry driver, gangsters or prostitutes they encounter have their evil way. If this family fodder is functional, it's due largely to its production design and cinematography, which endow the city of Chicago with an effectively menacing aspect.