Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase Parent Guide

Nancy Drew is an iconic albeit polarizing figure. Especially for me. My pre-teen self was inspired by her intelligence, unparalleled courage, kindness, and pluck. Even though I grew up in the 90’s, Nancy’s adventures stood as an inspiring beacon of kick-butt femininity. But as I headed off to watch the film, I was concerned that the 1930’s language, relationships, and cultural attitudes around women would make me cringe. I was apprehensive that Nancy might not have aged well and afraid that I wouldn’t be able to share her adventures – in print or film – with my daughters.

So I took all of these concerns, and my six year old daughter, to the new Nancy Drew movie, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase. While I don’t normally take my daughters to reviews, I thought her insight could be helpful. And my childcare demanded it.

We meet Nancy Drew (Sophia Lillis) as she longboards down the middle of the street, zoned out and in her own world. (As a side note: by turning Nancy Drew into a “skater chick” director Katt Shea has made some bold choices about what she thinks a modern Nancy should look like.) Nancy is quickly pulled into cyber-bullying drama when one of her best friends, Bess (Mackenzie Graham), is victimized by the star jock/jerk king of the school for no apparent reason. In an almost Veronica Mars-esque plot, Nancy exacts her revenge, but is quickly punished for her “crimes” with community service. It is while serving out her “totally harsh” sentence that she meets Flora (Linda Lavin). Flora is an older woman who also happens to be the great aunt of Helen (Laura Wiggins), the girlfriend of our zero-dimensional, cyber bully . But Flora, unlike her great-niece, is funny, charming, and taken by Nancy’s no-nonsense tough girl personality. She’s also experiencing nightly hauntings in her home, which happens to be one of the oldest in River Heights, and the source of a current railroad dispute in the town. The police are dismissive, but Nancy is intrigued and decides to spend the night at Flora’s to do some detecting.

What follows is some haunting, some sleuthing, and a predictable story that you’ve probably already solved after reading these basic plot points. While the haunting part is much scarier than I, or my six year old daughter, expected (I may be paying for that later this week), the content is tame enough. There’s some fighting with obvious bad guys, and a gun is brandished in threatening ways a handful of times. There is no profanity, a brief discussion of the octogenarian being a former burlesque dancer, and one hotel clerk spikes her own coffee with something a little stronger. Other than the scary sequence near the beginning of the movie, my six year old could handle all the content just fine, though she may have been a little bored.

What really frustrated me about this movie, apart from the acting (which was mediocre), was the writing. Simply adding random traits to a character’s personality doesn’t automatically add depth or make them quirky, charming, or likable. It can just come across as arbitrary, and frankly, a bit lazy. I was also frustrated by the over-simplified, stereotypical portrayal of girls. This modern Nancy eschews boy talk, nail polish, or anything that is typically “girly” which is supposed to give her more depth and substance. Aren’t we past this? Being tough, brave, and adventurous shouldn’t automatically exclude enjoying “girly” pastimes. In perpetuating these stereotypes about girls we limit them, and undermine what made the original Nancy Drew books so great: Nancy defied stereotype. She was young, brave, not afraid to get dirty, and would clean up and look darling for a cocktail party later that night when she would keep sleuthing and catch the bad guy. I want a Nancy Drew for the modern age that can deliver that kind of balance, to inspire a new generation of girls to be strong and courageous, and proud of who they are (even if that means they like nail polish *gasp*!). Unfortunately, this was not it.