Chris Columbus, the beloved director who rose to fame in the 1990s and the early 2000s, has a heavyweight reputation in the industry. But long before Harry Potter or Home Alone, Columbus directed a film known simply as Adventures in Babysitting, a genius work of teen coming-of-age comedy.
The 1987 film not only proved Columbus’s worth as a Hollywood heavyweight but also established him as a director of children’s movies. However, his genius film now seems lost to time, amid other popular teenage comedies like Clueless and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But it’s time to rediscover and appreciate the film that was one of Columbus’s best works.
Chris Columbus’s 1987 Film Deserves a Return to the Spotlight
Chris Columbus’s Adventures in Babysitting is an ’80s classic beloved for its evergreen comedy. It stars Elizabeth Shue as a teenage girl who is forced to take the two kids she is babysitting to the city after getting a distress call from her best friend. In the process, she encounters a night full of misadventures, from goons to car trouble and everything in between.
The 1987 film almost stands out as a distant cousin to Home Alone for its share of comedic oddball criminals attempting to ruin our protagonist’s night of adventure. The film has just as many heartwarming moments as laugh-out-loud scenes. As a result, we get a formative film that is sweet, emotionally mature, filled with teenage moments of anxiety and self-doubt, insightful, whimsical, comedic, and above all, a heartfelt story about friends and family.
Chris Columbus Graduates From Teen to Adult Tales of Misadventure in Latest Film
In 2025, Chris Columbus left behind his Home Alone and Hogwarts days to lead a group of pensioners in their ’70s and ’80s to investigate a murder in a charming and tranquil retirement village. The Thursday Murder Club is a new addition to Netflix, and the adaptation has already become one of its most-watched films, proving that Columbus has far from lost his touch as a director.
The Richard Osman murder mystery adaptation stars Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie, Pierce Brosnan, and Sir Ben Kingsley as its four amateur sleuths who uncover a series of crimes. The Thursday Murder Club arrives at just the right time to pique the curiosity of fans while they wait for the next chapter of Knives Out.
In the process, Columbus redeems himself after the back-to-back flops of Percy Jackson and Pixels, and continues delivering Netflix chart-toppers, especially as his last collaboration with the streamer, The Christmas Chronicles 2, also became the site’s most-watched film after release (IndieWire).
Below is a table comparing the critical ratings and reception of Chris Columbus’s first and latest films of his career:
| Movies | Tomatometer | Popcornmeter | IMDb | Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adventures in Babysitting (1987) | 72% | 70% | 6.9 | $34.4 million |
| The Thursday Murder Club (2025) | 76% | 54% | 6.6 | NA |
Have you watched Adventures in Babysitting and The Thursday Murder Club yet? Let us know what you think of Columbus’s latest film in the comments.
Adventures in Babysitting is streaming on Disney+.
The Thursday Murder Club is streaming on Netflix.
