Characters / Adventures in Babysitting

Chris

Chris Parker

Played By: Elisabeth Shue

• Badass Longcoat: Chris wears one throughout the movie.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: Averted. Though she and the kids go through hell while in the city, Chris comes back unscathed.
• Deadpan Snarker: This helps her when she's dealing with all the craziness of the night.
• Identical Stranger: "Shaylene" The Playboy cover model looks exactly like Chris.
• Mama Bear: Chris's famous line while facing two gangs on the L:
  Chris: Don't fuck with the babysitter!
• A Simple Plan: The entire reason she takes the kids to the city is to get her friend, Brenda from the bus stop.
• Skewed Priorities: When they are in the stolen car, Sarah mentions that Chris is "losing it", when she starts giving the kids orders.

Brad

Brad Anderson

Played By: Keith Coogan

• Berserk Button: Ends up getting his foot stabbed, because one of the gang members called Chris a bitch.
• Big Brother Bully: Like any older sibling he likes to tease Sara. Especially for her love of Thor, when he calls him a "homo", which upsets her.
• Big Brother Instinct: When they find Sarah's cape on the street he becomes worried when he realizes that she's in trouble.
• Butt-Monkey: Mostly when Sarah or Daryl joke about his crush on Chris.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Brad thinks he is this, in regards to Chris.
• He Didn't Make It: Thanks to mistaken identity, Chris, Sarah, and Daryl thought he had died because of the stabbing.
• Stalker with a Crush: Somewhat, as he writes love poems about Chris, and can't form a coherent sentence when he talks to her for the first time.

Sara

Sara Anderson

Played By: Maia Brewton

• Annoying Younger Sibling: Sara is this to Brad, as she likes seeing him in trouble, and making him look stupid in front of Chris.
• Berserk Button: Do NOT call Thor a homo in front of her.
• Badass in Distress: When Chris, Brad, and Darryl have to rescue her while she was out the window of the building.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Sara is this sometimes.
• Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Sara truly believes that Thor (and other superheroes) lives in the city. Though she is only around nine.
• Little Miss Snarker: Sara is definitely one.
• Loony Fan: She is a HUGE fan of Thor. Just look at her room.
• Potty Emergency: Sara has one, and they crash a frat party just so she could use the toilet.

Daryl

Daryl Coopersmith

Played By: Anthony Rapp

• All Men Are Perverts: He stole a Playboy from his dad, tried to get with a prostitute, and almost looked up Brenda's shirt when she was sleeping.
• Butt-Monkey: He is this butt of many jokes made by Sara, Brad, and Chris.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Downplayed compared to other uses of the trope, but still a pretty clear example. Brad would love to hit Mike, but doesn't want to sink to his level; Daryl doesn't hesitate.
• Big Brother Instinct: In regards to Sara, especially when she was missing.
• Deadpan Snarker: While he may not be so deadpan, he sure as hell is snarky.
• Doesn't Like Guns: His reaction when John Pruitt pulls out a gun from the glove compartment says it all.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Well to be fair he and Brad are friends, but according to Sara, he's a "stray dog".
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a bit of a jerk, but when people are in trouble he is genuinely concerned, like when he thought that Brad died, and when Sara was missing.
• Large Ham: He's the hammiest out of all the leads.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Almost lets the Playboy with the notes, fall out of his pocket while they were on the rafters.
• The Shameless: Daryl lampshades his status as shameless by asking a group of college frat boys if they know the Playboy defenition for "unabashed" when he crashes their frat party. Mind you, he's only in high school. At one point he mentions that Chris's boyfriend (who stood her up, hence why she's babysitting in the first place) kicked his ass the year before for touching his car, which Daryl denies doing. Then he asks if they want to see the footprint. He also seems interested in the services offered by a prostitute. He's still an actually likeable character, as when they find that Chris's boyfriend had cheated on her, he wasn't above getting a little karmic retribution.

"Handsome" John

John Pruitt

Played By: John Ford Noonan

• Berserk Button: When Dawson says that there's a car outside of his house, which means his wife is cheating on him.
• Good Samaritan: He helps Chris and the kids by getting them off the road, taking their car to the shop, and paying for the broken window, and also wishes them good luck before he runs from the cops.
• Hook Hand: Lost his hand in an accident, and is a nice guy most of the time.

Joe

Joe Gipp

Played By: Calvin Levels

• Affably Evil: Despite initially appearing as a shady Scary Black Man, he's a pleasant and personable person.
• Heel–Face Turn: Ends up helping the kids when the car thieves were chasing them.
• Punch-Clock Villain: How he treats his carjacking, otherwise he's not really that bad.
• Scary Black Man: When Chris and the kids first met him as he carjacks the car they're in before revealing his laidback and easy-going personality.

Brenda

Brenda

Played By: Penelope Ann Miller

• Blind Without 'Em: Mistakes a large sewer rat for a small kitten, when her glasses were stolen.
• Butt-Monkey: And HOW!
• Damsel in Distress: The entire reason Chris and the kids go to town is to rescue her from the bus stop.
• It's All About Me: Complains constantly about her homelife, and that it took so long for Chris to pick her up from the bus station.
• Small Role, Big Impact: It's her cry for help for Chris that leads to the main conflict for the latter and the kids she's babysitting.

Mike

Mike Toddwell

Played By: Bradley Whitford

• Jerkass: He blows off his date with Chris, to go to the same restaurant with a "sleeze", Sesame Plixer.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He is this according to Brad, and even Daryl.
• Slime Ball: Even before the big reveal in the third act, if you squint you can see the slime on screen.