Harriet the Spy (1996) Poster

Parents Guide

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Certification

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MPAA Rated PG for mild language and some thematic elements
Certification

Sex & Nudity

  • Harriet and her classmates are made to watch a sexual education film at school. Students are heard snickering and saying "ewww!" in unison.
  • Footage is depicted of an old black-and-white film. A woman is seen kissing a man passionately.
  • Harriet's mother dresses in a low-cut dress, showing cleavage.
  • A girl suggests that it would be fun to play "Spin the Bottle" in the park.
  • Harriet takes pictures of Sport wearing a skirt, reproduces them with a photocopier and sticks them up around the school, labeling them as "man of the house".
  • Harriet says that her classmate Carrie thinks she's cool because she spent the summer "growing boobs".
  • Harriet steals Carrie's bra and hangs it up on the school flagpole.
  • Harriet is seen in the bathtub. In one scene she is fully clothed and in another scene she isn't wearing anything. No nudity.

Violence & Gore

  • A man pretends to be stabbed and does a prat-fall in the street.
  • Nuclear war and the Manhattan Project are brought up.
  • A girl suggests that her "nice and polite" teacher will probably one day "go on a psycho killing spree" (meant to be comedic).
  • A couple of subtle references to animal cruelty, including a maid giving an offhand comment about dog-fighting, a man hoarding cats, live cats being put in a burlap sack and carried away, and a brief image of a lizard stretched out over a stick to be eaten.
  • A girl is spanked jokingly by her nanny, after which they make jokes about it being "child abuse".
  • Harriet's friends and classmates turn against her and do nasty things to her like chasing her through Toronto and threatening to beat her up. They also dump blue paint all over her.
  • Harriet's parents yell at her and she yells and swears at them.
  • Harriet cuts a girl's hair off completely with a pair of scissors.
  • Harriet sneaks into a mansion through the dumbwaiter and gets stuck. An old lady says that if it's a rat, they'll have to kill it, when they hear the dumbwaiter squeak.
  • A maid throws Harriet out of the mansion she trespassed in.
  • Harriet sees a family in the back of a convenience store, slapping their son and arguing with him.
  • A man steals a wallet and runs away, but he trips and falls into a pile of food.
  • Many of Jamie's future science plans are very violent and unethical.
  • Harriet nearly falls two floors down when she climbs up to visit her friends.
  • Harriet tells a boy who wears purple socks that he should hang himself.

Profanity

  • 1 use of the word "retarded".
  • "Boobs", "crap", and slang uses of "suck" are said a few times.
  • Harriet tells Marion to shove a notebook up her butt.
  • Some crude humor, burping and fart jokes.
  • Harriet writes nasty comments about her classmates.

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

  • Golly tells Harriet (pretending to be the voice of her parents, who are at a dinner party) that they are "drinking champagne and eating caviar".
  • It is suggested that Harriet's parents often go to fancy parties, where they drink a lot.
  • Harriet mentions that every time her parents come home they pour themselves big martinis.
  • The adults drink wine and smoke cigarettes throughout the film, but this isn't emphasized and isn't seen for long at a time.

Frightening & Intense Scenes

  • There are a number of verbal bullying incidents, some of which are extremely cruel. A girl has a note passed to her saying that she "smells" (she later takes off her clothes and takes a bath in the school's fountain sink). Another girl is told that her father doesn't love her, and later locks herself in her bathroom at home, refusing to come out.
  • The bullying between Harriet and her classmates is very intense.
  • Harriet argues with her parents, swears, gets depressed and her parents eventually send her to a psychiatrist.

Spoilers

The Parents Guide items below may give away important plot points.

Sex & Nudity

  • Janie uses her mother's oversized leopard-print bra to grow mold in for a science experiment. The bra explodes and green mold covers her mother's face.

Violence & Gore

  • Harriet and her friends often discuss ways to kill a bully, Marion Hawthorne, in a joking manner, including poisoning her. They aren't serious but still their fantasies are quite odd and disconcerting.
  • Harriet throws a heavy ceramic item of some sort at her parents (it misses both of them), after which they take her to see a psychologist.

Frightening & Intense Scenes

  • While not intense or frightening per se, the scene in which Harriet and Ole Golly part ways is extremely emotional.

See also

Taglines | Plot Summary | Synopsis | Plot Keywords


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