Seventeen-year-old Shirley is a good student who works as a babysitter in order to make money for college. One night Michael, a father Shirley works for, confesses he's unhappy with married life. Shirley has a crush on Michael, and seizes this moment to kiss him. Michael is so happy he presents Shirley with a big tip, which gives her an idea. Shirley plans to make extra money by setting up her teenage friends with other unhappy fathers.
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Reviews
Sorry, this movie sucks
Redundant and unnecessary.
Best movie ever!
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
I can imagine some director sitting down and going "Hmm. I've got a great movie idea. Check this out: a high school girl recruits her friends to be call girls under the auspices of babysitting and turns into a ruthless pimp." Good idea for an edgy movie, right? Probably so, but the execution was pretty bad here. There were so many holes in logic and obvious plot devices that it made it very difficult for me to willingly suspend my disbelief. For instance: What high school doesn't have security cameras in it? How many 16- year-olds are willing to sleep with 40 year old men in one high school? What high school keeps all sorts of paint and such around for kids to just grab? What man with a wife and two kids keeps three hundred bucks of totally disposable income in his wallet three to four nights per week? How dumb are these wives to not pick up on any of this? Kids break into a school and the cops don't come, but John Leguizamo stands near a train track and his wife freaks out that he might get arrested? How does a girl with OCD decide it's a good idea to destroy a school? For that matter, how does that same girl use the vandalism of the school to threaten her wayward hookers? "I threw paint on your lockers. Don't f*** anyone without my permission or next time it won't be paint." "Well, you smashed in the trophy case. That'll teach me to keep my legs closed." And on and on.The idea was a pretty good one. This movie had a lot of potential in it for something gritty, chilling, and dark. As a finished product, however, it seemed to just be some indie schlock that was trying for profundity and wound up falling face-first into some dad's lap.
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.
OK, there is something slightly sleazy about watching a movie featuring high school girls making money providing sex to dads.Michael (John Leguizamo) and his wife (Cynthia Nixon) are falling into routine, and she is not interested in his hobby. His job is becoming a bore. He and the babysitter (Katherine Waterston) fall into an illicit relationship.Soon, Shirly (Waterston) gets her friends into babysitting for $200 a pop and takes a cut.One of the girls (Louisa Krause) wants out and things go to hell.Waterston was really good, and I always enjoy Leguizamo in anything he does.
"The Babysitters" seems like the sort of movie that could debut the Sundance Film Festival. It focuses on an anal-retentive teenage girl (Katharine Waterston, Sam's daughter) who turns her babysitting service into a prostitution business, only to have things take an unexpected turn. If the movie has any problem, it's that much of it's a little hard to follow. Seriously, it seems like the movie lets things go on for a while before clarifying the purpose. Then again, they might need time to let things develop.Overall, I'd say that the movie is worth seeing, although you certainly have to have a long attention span. Also starring John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon (of "Sex and the City").