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Review: The Nanny diaries
A funny social satire, The Nanny Diaries is inspired by the real-life experiences of two former babysitters. Emphasising the need for parents to spend quality time with their kids.
The Nanny Diaries
Cast : Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney
Direction: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Rating: ***
A New York college graduate (Johansson) flunks her first job interview. Next, she’s a nanny to the precocious son of an immensely wealthy couple (Linney-Paul Giamatti). Treated like any other servant, she becomes a virtual slave to the child’s hoity-toity mom.
A fitfully funny social satire, The Nanny Diaries is inspired by the real-life experiences of two former babysitters. Emphasising the need for parents to spend quality time with their kids, the husband and wife directorial team of Pulcini and Berman invest the narrative with a fair amount of sensitivity and compassion.
If the outcome does not quite measure up to their haunting, independently produced first feature, American Splendor (2003), part of the reason could be the glossy production values and a sentimental sugar-coating.
Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney are both efficient and easy on the eye. Their charisma is the film’s strongest asset. Catch it for this camera-friendly twosome.
