Customer Reviews

The Babysitters

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Initially when I heard about The Babysitters, I thought of Risky Business with Tom Cruise in it, but upon watching it, I realised the two movies are very different. Risky Business was tinged with humor throughout but The Babysitters takes a very dark look at teens, sex, drugs and middle-aged men, a combustible combination indeed.

The movie begins with a bunch of nubile teen girls in compromising positions with middle-aged men, and a commentary by the lead actress [Katherine Waterston] who plays Shirley. We know the movie is going to be rather dark when Shirley casually makes the observance that "paid fellatio" is not much different than flipping burgers.

Turns out Shirley is a financially-challenged honors student who babysits to earn extra money and meets a couple Gail [ Cynthia Nixon] and Mike [John Leguizamo] who have two children. Mike is a middle-aged executive who finds his wife rather boring and unadventurous, and whilst driving Shirley home one night, they 'bond'. A kiss results in a heavy tip for Shirley, and soon the pair are engaged in a hot affair, the first encounter netting Shirley $200. The bright young woman decides this is the path to financial freedom, and is soon not only making money hooking on the side with Mike and other like-minded guys but also pimping out her similar-minded classmates, charging a 20% levy on each of her 'girls' transaction.

What appears to be an easy ride turns difficult and dangerous when greed and rivalry amongst the girls turns life into a spiralling nightmare for Shirley.

Katherine Waterston [daughter of Sam Waterston of Law & Order] does an amazing job in her role as the enterprising teen Shirley, though I did find her sudden chameleon-like change from virginal teen to teen nymphet and madam hard to swallow [pun intended]. John Leguizamo's performance as Mike was well-done, though his sex scenes with Waterston were unconvincing. Cynthia Nixon's dumpy wife role truly wasted her talents and didn't elicit much sympathy for her character. Another stand-out performance was by Halley Wegryn Gross who plays Nadine, another of Shriley's girls.

Overall, I found the movie an above-average attempt at addressing the darker side of high school students' lives, the pressures they face etc, but I felt the movie did not truly spend time on character development and plot cohesion.Final verdict: a dark drama dealing with teen vice and angst.

this movie certainly had a lot to offer but came out short. if you're going to make a adult-themed movie, then go for it. having sex scenes with everyone fully clothed does nothing for the movie. it's not my main complaint or major concern, but it is more distracting than anything. i doubt if teenagers are that organized or can keep a secret especially with all the business, money and backstabbing that was going on. their business would of collapsed long before it did. and it would not only be the kids that noticed high buck jewerly and clothes on them. i really don't think the leguizamo character would really have the caring and feelings he did. i didn't think much of the acting or characters played. and yes, common sense giving teenagers drugs and alcohol will come back to haunt you. nothing really happened, which i'm sure is a relief to the characters. if this movie would have been made in any other nonpolitically correct decade, it might have been done differently.

I personally really liked the movie.
It was basically about a teenage girl who is a babysitter and ends up having sex with one of the fathers who gives her extra money at the end of there fling. One thing leads to another and she starts some babysitters sex ring. Pretty good in my opinion. I wouldn't let my daughter watch it thou, mostly cause I wouldn't want her getting any ideals ya know.

This deals with teen prostitution, manages to do so without being overly exploitive or sugarcoating the topic-- a rare successful entry into the area of being truthful without veering too far off on either side. The actors are great, manage to stay in character and on topic, the photography and sound are acceptable, and it's worth the time and effort to buy it, watch it, think about it, and watch it again.

Then it's time to pass it on, but only to thinking adults, not to idiots who are only interested in "getting off their rocks."

After about half an hour, the viewer can predict the outcome. What is not so transparent is the development of the two central, and one or two peripheral, characters.

Note of a moral nature: this movie (like numerous others that primarily aim to shock in order to motivate a kind of moral reflection that is valuable in itself, films such as 'American Beauty', 'Magnolia', 'Bad Education', '13 Tzametti', 'Perdita Durango' and 'Natural Born Killers') raises the question: "Will its release encourage morally reprehensible behavior?" My answer would be "Maybe." Not much of an answer, but perhaps this is something troubling, and perhaps public debates on such subject matter as one encounters in this film wouldn't be a bad idea. I can understand some peoples' less-than-favourable response to this film. After all, teen prostitution isn't the world's healthiest practice, both physically AND psychologically. Anyway. What about the non-normative aspects of the film (which warrant discussion in themselves)?

Leguizamo is versatile, and this movie provides further evidence of said trait. Nixon fans might be disappointed insofar as her role is a minor one, with little investigation of the character she plays. But Leguizamo, his love interest (Waterston), and the other 'babysitters' (esp. 'Brenda') are given some serious attention. Of special mention are a few aspects of Waterston's character that make for a more interesting story than would otherwise have been the case.

Not an easy film to watch. Makes one wonder how exaggerated the story actually is. Overall, entertaining, superior acting, interesting plot. But note moral caveat above.

It could be said that this movie is a lesson on considering every angle before embarking on a new endeavor. In this case, the girls realized they could make money by having sex under the guise of baby-sitting, but eventually things get out of control in ways that make it not worth even the good money. What seems like it is going to be easy money turns difficult and dangerous. Avarice and typical teen girl rivalry among the group turns life into a treacherous nightmare for Shirley. The movie gets four stars instead of five because I am not sure a girl as 'innocent' as Shirley could turn into such a ruthless Madame in such a short time. There is nudity (teen breasts) and some bad language and drugs, but less than one would expect in such a movie.

I really recommend this DVD. It has a surprise ending you do not expect! ;)
I have been told this movie is based on fact!!!

Both the guy and girl are taught a good lesson. Wasn't boring and keep my attention all throughout the movie. Sex, sex, sex.

The well-acted indie drama "The Babysitters" takes what appears on the surface to be fairly salacious and distasteful material and turns into a scathing attack on contemporary mores and values.

Shirley (Katherine Waterston) is an attractive suburban high school student who decides to make a little extra money babysitting for the young son of a local couple. When the husband, Michael (John Leguizamo), who is clearly unhappy in his marriage, pays to have sex with her at the end of the night, Shirley comes up with a scheme to parlay that into a full-fledged teen-prostitution ring, with Michael lining up other clients among his married buddies and Shirley setting herself up as a sort of "madam," "hiring" her friends from school to serve as under-aged "call girls." But the folks involved soon discover that, when it comes to affairs of the heart and of the loins, one can't always dictate how things will turn out.

Writer/director David Ross aims at a wide range of targets, from the sterility of suburbia and middle class marriage to middle-aged men who refuse to grow up - and who, instead of serving as moral guides for the girls, are willing to exploit them for their own perverted needs - to the capitalist system itself, at least as embodied by the "enterprising" young entrepreneur, Shirley who often has to stoop to ruthless and dictatorial tactics to ensure the viability and survival of her business.

But always, beneath it all, there is the intense sadness and emotional emptiness of the situation, as these attractive young ladies - who are really just confused and insecure kids under all the makeup, sexy clothing and alluring bravado - find themselves getting into something they can neither fully understand nor fully control. Even Michael seems unable to separate the sex from his own more romantic feelings for Shirley as he battles with jealousy thinking about her with other men. Perhaps, the most indicting line of dialogue comes from one of the creepier gents who cluelessly proclaims that one day, when these girls are all grown up, they will look back on this time as one of the greatest of their lives. Yet, paradoxically, the exploitation goes both ways, as these "naïve" girls, particularly Shirley, wrap a bunch of immature middle-aged men around their little fingers, ultimately using the men's uncontrollable libido against them.

It is this complicated twist that gives the film its darkly humorous tone and makes "The Babysitters" more than just a titillating and exploitative exercise in finger-wagging moral umbrage.

This film has many ingredients which could have made a really interesting story - stellar performances by newcomer Katherine Waterson, daughter of well known actor Sam Waterson, among other excellent actors - but falls apart quickly into a sort of soft porn / teen comedy due to a stupid writer-director, who allows promising assets to fall through his fingers. For example, the character of Shirley played by Waterson, is portrayed as suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. But it was never made clear what connection this might have to her emotional manipulation by older men. Or, the vulnerability of the older men themselves is sometimes on display, but never developed. Instead we get the absurd hypothesis that comfortable suburban teen girls from good families would transition in one day from virginity to cash-accounting for sex at $200-300 a pop. With old guys from the neighborhood well known to their friends and parents. I don't think so.

Bottom line: Could have been a classy film but instead, deteriorated into teen sex-ploitation. The director Ross has a long way to go before he is a skilled filmaker. At least let's hope for more in the future from Katherine Waterson.

I'm curious about a legal point. There is no doubt about the depiction of sexual activity of mid teen girls here, even if the actual actors were over 18; doesn't that violate the federal child pornography law?? I mean, if a cartoon violates the law, if a comic violates the law, why not this movie?