The year is 1995.

You know, we're more than just a club.

We're friends.

Best friends.

Nothing could ever change that.

The movie, The Babysitters Club.

Oh, I'm Unspooled. I am Paul Shear, and this is a podcast about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, mustsies, and in case you missed them. Normally, I'm joined by my co-host, L.A. film critic Amy Nicholson to talk about the films that people consider the best ever made. But while she's away and can, we are leaving our list of the

AFI and letterbox, and we are focusing on one person's favorite, unappreciated classic.

Maybe it's a little left of center, a film that simply doesn't get enough love. This is

dealer's choice where our guests get to choose what movie they need to talk about.

Anything goes, today we are talking about 1995's Baby Sitters Club.

Now, let me tell you, the Babysitters Club is a massively popular series of middle grade novels by Anne M. Martin.

It's a cultural institution, and Scholastic

and Columbia Pictures see this opportunity to translate this built-in audience to the screen,

aiming squarely at young female demographic that Hollywood largely ignores at the time.

Now, the books revolve around a group of entrepreneurial middle school girls running a babysitting business in the fictional town of Stony Brook, Connecticut.

And what really makes these books work, apparently, is the emotional lives of the girls.

They're very real.

And the film adaptation zeroes in on a summer story.

The girls decide to start a day camp as a way to grow their business,

giving the movie this clear structure while juggling multiple character arcs to ground it in

authenticity. The production leans into a relatively unknown cast. You have Schuller Fisk as Christy,

...