The Babysitters

After she ends up having sex with one of her customers, a teenager decides to turn her babysitting job into an illicit escort agency, with herself and her friends as the call-girls. Things are great at first, but the reality of the situation she has put herself and her friends in starts to take its toll.

I'll be honest – even before I started to watch 'The Babysitters', I wasn't feeling great about it. A decent cast of good but unimpressive actors; a handful of sexy girls there to just be sexy; and a play on that lovely babysitter fantasy. It was destined to be failure.

And, well, it's a failure.

It's a failure mainly because it's so predictable. It was clear to see where it was going, and writer/director David Ross never really challenges our expectations – if anything, he goes out of his way to make sure everything goes as we imagined it would. Very boring.

Another problem is that Katherine Waterston (playing central character Shirley), as gorgeous as she is, just isn't a very good actor. If you're going to base your film around a young actor, that actor better be good, and we didn't get that here. She's not absolutely awful, she has her moments, but nothing sustained enough to make it a performance worth investing in. The big name in the film is John Leguizamo. I liked his character, and the man is obviously a fantastic actor, but he's wasted here. Similarly, Cynthia Nixon is barely there, and doesn't have a lot to do.

I feel I should balance this out with a positive from the movie, but I'm at a loss as to what that might be. If I would praise anything, it would be the performance of Lauren Birkell, as Shirley's best friend Melissa. She is the kooky, quirky one, and does it very well. It's a spirited performance, the kind of performance someone gives when they're doing best to get noticed. But it's one shining light in a badly-made film.

'The Babysitters' is watchable, but you're not going to enjoy it too much. If you're happy to put up with a boring script if it means you get some lovely eye candy, please do watch this, as you get a healthy dose of both things. If you like your films, y'know, good, avoid it.

The sole reason for why I picked up "The Babysitters" was because of John Leguizamo being in it. Having read the synopsis for the movie, and that wasn't particularly a selling point for me. So, for me, the movie was depending on John Leguizamo to carry it - and so he did.

The story in "The Babysitters" is about a young girl who babysits for a family, and whilst driving her home in the evening, the dad invites her in to a diner for something to eat. Here they come to talk and a spark is set off between them. The dad ends up having sex with the babysitter. Eventually his friend finds out and wants in on the deal, and the babysitter bring in her friends to help servicing these adult men who have wives and kids. And business is good for the 'babysitters'.

Storywise, then "The Babysitters" doesn't really blow you away - pardon the pun. The story is good enough in itself, although it does deal with a taboo subject, so the movie may not be suitable for just anyone.

What made the movie watchable was the acting in the movie, because people really did great jobs with their given roles and characters. And also the characters in the movie were really fleshed out nicely and in great detail.

"The Babysitters" is a story- and character-driven movie, so don't expect the movie to get up into a fast pace at any given moment.

If you enjoy dramas that deal with issues that are not common day events - controversial events you might say - then "The Babysitters" might be just the right movie for you.

Stuck at home and recovering from a viral throat infection, I was looking for a couple of nice little cheesy movies that didn't take much brain power. What I found instead, was one utter piece of dross (Black Ribbon, don't bother watching it), and this absolute gem.

Not at all the Debbie-does-Dallas style piece of cheese that I was expecting from the description I had read, I found this film really rather touching and thought provoking. The acting was excellent, especially considering the apparent young age of some of the cast. Katherine Waterston shone as Shirley, and managed to convey all of the awkwardness of her slightly neurotic teenage character, whilst still being completely convincing in later scenes where her inner core of steel shows through. The range of different personalities amongst the girls as a group was excellent, and each character was thoroughly fleshed out. If there was a weak link here, I would say that perhaps there was not quite enough focus on the reactions of the teenage boys to what is going on around them - Scott's reaction to Shirley later in the film appears to come from nowhere. Perhaps a deleted scene?

The sex, whilst somewhat explicit, was never gratuitous, and there were a couple of uncomfortable scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. Whilst I certainly never got involved in anything like this as a teenager, I found I was reminded very strongly of the amoral thing I once was, and rather grateful, in fact, that I was never given the choice that these girls are offered in the film. The lack of any real analysis of their actions only serves to make these teens more convincing in my view - what teenager really considers the consequences of their actions before taking them?

My recommendation: Get hold of a copy of this film, grab yourself some popcorn, and watch it through, and be prepared for some introspection afterwards.

Whoever said that brains and beauty is not an explosive combination? An enterprising young woman sees a way to take control of her life and becomes a mastermind behind a society of young women whose lives are slowly shattered when they decide to use their charms to make some money.

The film starts out slowly and then hits a few highs along the way, giving us a share of strong, controversial and provocative moments. As we see the story unfold, we are not quite sure when the dangerous and tragic moments are coming. They are expected, but they are not quite as obvious as one expects. Little by little, we see the girls lose control of their enterprise, as each person's agenda begins to threatens the good of the group. Personalities begin clashing as the quiet and demure realizes she doesn't have enough strength to continue. In the opposite end, her sister is taking more and more dangerous assignments, and all of this emotional turmoil begins to prove too much for the head of the club.

In the end, things work out but not that smoothly, and not without a couple of gigantic crises along the way. It is shocking at times, and there are a couple of lulls along the way that almost derail the film, but it is a movie that shows a side of teens that has probably never been shown before. It will make you think.

Just saw this film at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). The director was there and participated in the Q&A. The film was entertaining, I'll give it that much, however the major problems stem from it just doesn't feel like the film-making team really knew what kind of film they wanted to make. The tone is muddled and therefore you're never really sure how to feel about most of the situations. The sex scenes are probably the most interesting of the film, and mostly because that's really the only time where we really see the characters and what they're going through. Cynthia Nixon and John Leguzamo play a married couple, and although they're both cast well and play the parts well I find it very hard to believe them as a couple at all. I think that the writing and portrayal of their characters is fine, it just doesn't fit. The director/writer seems to prefer going after internal conflict rather than external, the main problem is that in the end we never really get a sense of how this whole story has affected everyone. We're left on a very vague not that I think hurts the film more than helps it. That and it kinda/sorta felt like a newer take on 'Pizza Boy' with Patrick Dempsy (and from a marketing point MILFS are way more interesting than... oh my... FILFs?)