The Nanny Diaries Is Fairly Enjoyable!
Written: Jan 15 '08
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Pleasant movie all around
Cons: Paul Giamatti doesn't really fit
The Bottom Line: The Nanny Diaries is a fairly good film with decent performances and a good story.
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| lyoness913's Full Review: The Nanny Diaries |
Personally, I really enjoyed the book The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I remember reading it with great fondness, and enjoying the story immensely. I noticed that the movie was available on Time Warner On Demand, so since I had a fairly calm weekend I chose to watch it. I have to say, I really enjoyed the movie as well.
Annie Braddock (Scarlet Johansson) is a college graduate. She finds out soon that the market for jobs in New York City is very tough. We see Annie go on an interview where one candidate will be chosen in 10,000. She becomes frustrated. By happenstance, she runs into a small child Grayer (Nicholas Art), who is running away from his mother and his Nanny. The mother, Mrs. X (Laura Linney), immediately asks Annie if she is looking for a Nanny position. Annie decides to take the position of Nanny for an Upper East Side couple, even though she is terrified of what her mother (Donna Murphy) would say if she found out. (She was supposed to get a job in finance!) Anyway, Annie moves into the X’s house and gets prepared for life on ‘Rich People Lane.’
Annie soon finds out that the world of Nanny-hood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Mrs. X treats Annie like a second class citizen. Her bedroom is small (it will remind you of Rosario’s room from Will And Grace, ) and her duties are to be with Grayer 24/7. Mrs. X has much more important things to do, like socialize and go to beauty appointments. Annie has to go the extra step to pretend she is actually living in her best friend Lynette’s (Alicia Keys) apartment when her mom visits. She meets a ‘Harvard Hottie’ (Chris Evans) who lives in Mrs. X’s building and never can seem to go on a date with him because Mrs. X is so demanding.
Annie soon finds out that Mrs. X isn’t nearly as perfect as she portrays. Her husband (Paul Giamatti) is a real jerk. He never spends time with her and he’s always cheating behind her back. Mrs. X is constantly hurt and upset by her husband, which makes her miserable and therefore Annie even more miserable. When Mrs. X and Mr. X decide to go to Nantucket for a vacation, Annie goes along and finds out that she is completely disposable.
The Nanny Diaries does a fairly good job of sticking to the novel. I seem to remember almost each scene in my mind as it’s played out in the movie. Johansson is perfect for the role of Annie, as she portrays a young, unsure girl who is out of her league, yet completely ‘real.’ Laura Linney really is perfect as the older Manhattan b*tch who always gets her own way. When I read the book, for some reason I pictured Catherine Zeta Jones in the role as Mrs. X, but Linney pulls it off.
Johansson makes the script and the cast come to life. I think it’s probably one of her best performances. I never doubted that she was a grass roots girl, raised by her mother and trying to decide what to do with her life. Linney really shone as the privileged wife who, so far removed from reality, assumed that everyone understood her life and her situation. I was really shocked to see Giamatti play the role as Mr. X. It seems to me that he usually plays roles in films where he is ‘the good guy.’ I thought they could have chosen someone 1) better looking than Giamatti and 2) more hard nosed than Giamatti to play Mr. X, but since he is such a fantastic actor he manages to pull off the smarmy, pompous Wall Street pig.
This movie moves at a fast paced and it’s very easy to become involved with the characters. We love Annie. We want her to get together with the Harvard Hottie. Even though we hate Mrs. X for shoving Annie and Grayer off to the side, we still want her to understand that her husband is scum, and she can do better. It’s a feel good movie in that it looks beyond the surface and explores why people act the way they do. It contains comedy, drama and a little romance and I think that most people, even if they have not read the book, would enjoy (to a certain extent) this movie.
4 stars, I will definitely watch it again.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Feel-good Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Cast
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lyoness913
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Location: Overland Park, KS
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Missing Epinions! Soo busy with kids!!
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