Une babysitter trop parfaite

In the opening scene of "The Perfect Nanny," an unhappy-looking brunette woman grabs a knife from her kitchen, marches into the bedroom where two people are having sex, and . . . stabs herself in the stomach. It's an obvious twist. Unfortunately, it's the only twist in this dreadful made-for, which is aimed at illiterates. Literally. When the characters aren't thinking aloud, they're reading aloud from whatever book, e-mail or psychiatric case file just happens to be open in front of them. But that's fair, since the filmmakers assume their audience is as stupid as the characters in this movie, which, as the title helpfully telegraphs, is yet another thriller in the venerable "obsessive psycho insinuates herself into an innocent family's life" genre (along the lines "The Single White Female That Attracts The Cradle" or whatever). Since there is no suspense whatsoever in this thriller, its only possible entertainment value is the camp factor, which is, sadly, only moderate. The plot, or excuse for it, centers on Tracy Nelson as the unhappy brunette who, after being released from the psych ward, changes her name and becomes the receptionist for a child care service so she can emulate the heroine of her favorite romance novel, a nanny who marries her employer. Yes, you've already guessed how this sucker is going to end, so you might as well try to enjoy the ride. On the plus side, Katherine Helmond turns in yet another witty performance as yet another horrible old lady, this time the psychonanny's abusive mother. Fans of blood and gore will also appreciate the body count, as the malicious Mary Poppins leaves a trail of victims that would embarrass Ted Bundy. The weak link, as always, is the family that the au parasite stalks, which is so boring that only a psycho would want want to live with them. Widower Bruce Boxleitner is a brilliant neurosurgeon but apparently too stupid to check references, let alone notice that his college-aged daughter (Dana Barron) is actually in her mid-30s. (Sweet "young" Fawn is off to study English Literature at Cambridge in a few months -- it can't be easy to wait fifteen years for your Junior Year Abroad.) The kid who the caretaker is supposed to take care of, ten-year-old Ben, is an easily duped genius (like father, like son). 70s stalwart Susan Blakely, still looking pretty decent in a bathing suit, shows up as Bruce's colleague and potential love interest but doesn't get enough screen time to perk up the proceedings. So you've read that title, which tells you what's going to happen. Watch at your own risk.

I cannot be totally objective about this film as I have a soft spot for the lovely Susan Blakely who must have one of the most sincere faces on this earth ! This being the case, any film starring her will be a pleasure to watch for me ! That apart, I did find the film pretty good, I had already seen the film "The Perfect Tenant" which was made by the same director ( and also starred Tracy Nelson in the role of a mentally unsound woman ), Now as to Tracy Nelson herself, she indeed plays a very worrying and frightening character, you do actually forget she is acting and actually believe her to be the part she is playing. This is really quite frightening as her moves are psychotic and unpredictable. She commits brutal murder without really realizing what she is doing. She is living in a fantasy world and trying to act it out in real life. Not a film to be watched alone or late at night ! I am also very keen on the actor Bruce Boxleitner whom I have seen in several films previously. I have seen other readers compare this film to "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" with Jessica Lange. I did enjoy that but found this film far more frightening and anguishing, notably from the performance given by Tracy Nelson. I managed to find it on DVD in the USA and certainly didn't regret my purchase !

This movie was poorly written and poorly acted. The plot was so lousy and didn't make sense. A huge rip off of "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle". Tracy Nelson plays a young woman who tries to commit suicide and after being released from a mental hospital, goes out and finds a job as a nanny for a widower. She's obsessed with her romance novels and wants to live her life as in her novels. She begins to kill whoever gets in the way of her chance at the doctor and his children's lives. The whole movie itself was trash and yet again we have to cringe when we find out what good money is being used for. Tracy Nelson was the only good actor in this one but that was about it. I'd rather you stare at your walls then watch this snoozer. Give me a B-O-R-I-N-G!! What does that spell?? THIS MOVIE!!

The perfectly bad opening has wide-eyed psycho "romance novel" reader Tracy Nelson (as Andrea McBride) walking in on scruffily sexy husband Darren Gray Ward (as Troy Hatfield) with an arousing blonde. She stabs herself and not the blonde, which understandably lands Ms. Nelson in a mental hospital. Upon release, Nelson takes a thankfully more natural approach to knife wielding. In the future, she will only stab herself when absolutely necessary. Nelson fantasizes about a romance similar to the one in her favorite novel "The Passion of Mandy". She gets a job as "The Perfect Nanny" by stealing the resume of "Nikki Harcourt" and lands a job working for Southern California neurosurgeon Bruce Boxleitner (as James Lewis)...

In the hospital, it's easy to tell he's a good guy by comparing Mr. Boxleitner's height and hair count with rival Scott Alan Smith (as Doctor Conrad). Attracting ex-model Susan Blakely (as Julia Bruning), the widower Boxleitner has two children, college-bound Dana Barron (as Fawn) and gullible young Scott Terra (as Ben). The boy boasts an IQ of 162, but daughter Dana turns out to be the smartest branch on the family tree. Getting wiser and visibly older in close-ups, Ms. Barron suspects there's a rotten nanny in the house. Livening up events is ditsy mother Katherine Helmond (as Rebecca McBride), who proves some apples don't fall far from the tree. Nelson and her trashy family are perfectly cast, and watching Barron unravel the plot is dumb fun.

****** The Perfect Nanny (2000) Robert Malenfant ~ Tracy Nelson, Bruce Boxleitner, Dana Barron, Katherine Helmond

As ridiculous as some Lifetime movies are, they do have some element of relatability. They're often centered around deception and secrets, and I think it's safe to say, we've all had someone in our life who we ended up discovering we couldn't trust, despite them having tried their hardest to make a positive first impression. I won't go into details, but I recently found out someone lied to me, and this was a person who was desperate for a friendship. The lie itself wasn't anything serious, but it's still disappointing when you're lied to. Not like I thought they were all that genuine anyway, because they showered me with compliments when I first met them. Nonetheless, I was still surprised. I'm trying to be more diligent about setting boundaries, so I decided to cease contact with them. People who lie don't bring anything but confusion, and I prefer to keep my life stress-free. I feel like The Perfect Nanny took the concept of developing a close relationship with someone - platonic or romantic - who is untrustworthy, and it could've been captured realistically, but it was just over-the-top and extreme.

I had seen Tracy Nelson in another Lifetime movie, The Perfect Tenant, and I gotta say, she portrays a mentally disturbed individual convincingly. In the Perfect Nanny she plays Andrea McBride, a former psychiatric hospital patient who has an unhealthy obsession with romance novels. She fakes her identity by giving herself the name Nikki Harcourt, and applies for a nanny position for a handsome widower, Dr. James Lewis (Bruce Boxleitner). She immediately hits it off with his kids, Fawn and Ben (Dana Barron and Scott Terra) when he's interviewing her. He wants a nanny who can teach Ben Spanish, due to living in SoCal. Unfortunately, her not being versed in the language is a deal breaker, so he tells her he'll be hiring someone else. Later on that night, she goes to the house of the woman who he planned on hiring and kills her. To be honest, I didn't quite understand that, because it seemed like she let her inside to make a phone call. The film subsequently takes a dark turn, and I felt like most of what happened was stupid.

Reading those idiotic novels fuels Andrea's obsession with James. After moving into the house, she starts acting like they're married. His female colleague, Dr. Julia Bruning (Susan Blakley), comes over for dinner, and Andrea purposely cuts herself when she's alone in the kitchen to get his attention. Knowing Fawn doesn't like Julia, after eavesdropping on their conversation, and hearing Julia tell him about going to Big Bear Lake, she goes to Fawn and tells her what she heard. It was inappropriate for an adult to work in cahoots with a teenager to try and cause a rift in their parent's relationship. It was really neither of their business. James has no knowledge Andrea is having a negative influence on Fawn. If he did, he might've considered letting her go. Knowing this information from Andrea leads Fawn to stalk Julia. She gets in her car and follows her to a restaurant, where she sees her going in with a man. She tells James the next day. He becomes annoyed, tells her the man is gay, and basically says to stop spreading rumors. That's when Fawn starts questioning Andrea's motives, leading her to do investigation of her background. Meanwhile, Andrea's husband Troy (Darren Gray Ward), who she had discovered was cheating at the start of the film, which led her to attempt suicide, hence why she was in the psych hospital, is on her trail.

Most of these Lifetime movies are all the same. A family opens their doors to a complete stranger, just because they seem nice on the outside. The person goes on a killing spree, unbeknownst to the family they're living with. One member of the family thinks the person is an undercover psycho, but none of their other family members will listen to them, instead making it seem like they're the one who has a problem. They start doing their own detective work, and find out information that confirms their suspicions. So the message of the story is, take your time getting to know people. Don't let them jump into your life. Even if a person is charming, you should approach them with at least some weariness. It's a valid lesson, but the way the filmmakers went about presenting it, made it get lost in the absurdity of the story's events. Like are we really supposed to believe a doctor would be dumb enough not to notice that a person is acting weird, especially if they're living under the same roof? In real life, people are not that skilled at hiding they're a liar. More often than not, it's quite easy to pick up on clues that they're not telling the truth. There was a scene where they were eating breakfast, and Fawn catches Andrea in a lie. But James doesn't respond by showing that he's unhappy with Andrea. He chastises Fawn for accusing her of lying. See what I mean? That's just stupid. At one point Lifetime movies were disrupting my sleep schedule, because I was addicted to them. I did come to the realization that they're really not worth staying up late for. Once is all I needed to watch The Perfect Nanny. Give it a try if you want, but it's not worth your time.