A long, long time (1995) in a galaxy far, far away (Viacom headquarters in the heart of New York City's Times Square district) the executives in charge of dreaming-up stuff for basic cable Network Nickelodeon decided to start making movies. Not made-for-TV cheap crap like the one ABC Family produces for itself every other week starring the Olsen Twins, mind you, but a theatrical feature film. "Harriet the Spy" was the project's name, and it featured "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" co-star Michelle Trachtenberg (i.e. Nona Mecklenberg) as Harriet M. Welsch. An 11-year old spy (complete with yellow trench coat and home-made gadgets that don't do anything spectacular), Harriet will stop at nothing to discover the truth about the people and things around her urban world. Writing is the girl's true hobby, but only by perfecting her spying skills can Harriet get the insights she needs to become a great writer.

Harriet is constantly writing everything she sees and deducts. Whether it's the grocery store down the block, the peculiarities of her fellow schoolmates, the lifestyle of the old secluded woman (Eartha Kitt) that never leaves her house or the private conversations of her parents (played with no-nonsense conviction by J-Smith Cameron and Robert Joy), Harriet writes all the knowledge she acquires into a 'PRIVATE' notebook. If she's seen it in her neighborhood, city or school, she's written about it. This notebook idea was a suggestion from Harriet's nanny and best friend Golly (Rosie O'Donnell). The notebook's eventual arrival into the hands of Harriet's enemy Marion Hawthorne (a deliciously smirky Charlotte Sullivan) cascades into a series of events and revelations that lead to Harriet being told off by all her friends in school. A psychiatry session follows after the girl snaps at her parents for allowing Golly to go. Alone and without friends, Harriet must struggle to not only win her friends and parents back. She must also convince herself that she's a good spy and writer, or risk becoming a has-been at age 11.

I missed this flick when Paramount released it theatrically in 1996, so everything in it (including Trachtenberg and O'Donell as best buds, a slight shock to which I adjusted quickly) was completely new to me. Unusually creative production design by Lester Cohen (the Welsch's household, the psychiatrist's office, etc.) and timeless costume choices for the characters (deep red dresses, Dick Tracy-like yellow rain coats, etc.) prevents "Harriet the Spy" from screaming '1996' as loud and as obnoxiously as that guy from the "South Park" episode that is found frozen in ice after three years. Even more revealing is that, for its first feature film, Nickelodeon Movies chose a rather adult and mature (considering the film's target audience) project in which peer rejection leads the main character to a couple of scenes (Ch.11) in which Harriet seriously contemplates ending her life by drowning in a bathtub. Talk about adults creating little movies for themselves! There are occasional bits of hilarity here and there when watching Trachtenberg (who would go on to play Dawn Summers for three seasons on TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") do her spy stuff, but it's not like the young girls is doing pratfalls or funny faces to the camera (something fellow Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes does in "What A Girl Wants").

For the most part "Harriet the Spy" plays it straight and dramatic, but within the context of how an 11-year old would see things around her. If I were 11 and my friends got a hold of a book with my deepest private thoughts about them I think I would have claimed into a bathtub full of water and stare at it for an uncomfortable amount of time. The gear Harriet carries around (binoculars, tape, etc.) is perfectly normal for what a young kid that thinks she's a spy would carry, and the movie doesn't cheat its audience into a happy ending. Solid performances by young and grown-up actors alike, combined with a slightly off-center screenplay (by Theresa Beck and Douglas Petrie) and creative camera angles from director Brownen Hughes, makes "Harriet the Spy" a rare treat: live action Nickelodeon drama without the slick manipulative streak that runs through most movies/TV shows aimed at grown-ups. Not since the glory days of "The Secret World of Alex Mack" (third season, 1996-97) have I gotten such an emotional high from watching anything Nickelodeon. Even misfires in "Harriet the Spy" (especially a trip to a movie house playing Greta Garbo's 'Mata Hari') are in a league of their own.

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