Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

vincentlynch-moonoi I almost didn't watch this movie because I had a sense it was going to be some sort of silly comedy about nannies. But, I like Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney, so I thought I'd give it a try for maybe 15 minutes. I'm glad I did. The movie wasn't at all what I expected, and I enjoyed it.There are really 2 themes to this film. First, the story of a nanny (Scarlett Johansson) who is capable of greater things, but has a bit of a crisis of confidence. Second, the story of a dissolving marriage (Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti). And while the story centers around the young boy to whom Johansson is nanny, it is not really about the boy. It's an interesting way to tell the 2 main stories, and, even beyond that, the way the director tells the stories (particularly early in the film) is a bit off-beat (in a good way).Johansson is very good here (sans blonde hair). But even more brilliant is Laura Linney...great performance, and stunningly beautiful on occasion. Chris Evans, with whom I was not familiar, was quite good as a potential love interest (a part which could have been played up a bit). If you want a bad guy, Paul Giamatti was terribly unlikable as the wandering, emotionally sadistic husband; not a role many would like to take.So what's to criticize? Not much except that I don't think they handled the role of the young boy very well. OR, they intentionally downplayed the boy's role so as to focus on the stories of the 2 adult women. I felt totally neutral about the boy. Neither a monster nor adorable. I saw him as an always-there plot device. Maybe Paul Giamatti's character was too mean and nasty.However, very good film, and probably not what quite a few people were expecting.

Dan1863Sickles So many brilliant reviewers have sliced up this appalling mess of a movie that I don't even want to pile on, but I would like to say a few words about Laura Linney.She is so beautiful, so brilliant, so wasted in this movie. The bored, neglected, stunningly beautiful and achingly lonely woman she portrays is a tiresome caricature of a type that is at least 100 years out of date. Edith Wharton wrote about this kind of woman really well, and it's no accident that Laura Linney was a superbly cruel, lovely and convincing Bertha Dorsett in an otherwise forgettable film of THE HOUSE OF MIRTH.So don't watch THE NANNY DIARIES. Go watch Laura Linney in THE HOUSE OF MIRTH instead. Oh, and watch Scarlett Johannsen in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. Because that's the movie where she really proves she can look beautiful all the time, even with a wine glass in her hand.

mauro volvox Like chamomile tea, the Nanny Diaries is fragrant, has a delicate almost bland taste, is not bad at all, but after a while is totally forgotten. It is not going to harm you, but is not going to be a memorable experience either.For a movie that was supposed to be a comedy, this one is missing a few laughters. There are a few funny moments, but for the most part it is a light drama.This is a typical chick-flick for a cold rainy day. It is not a kid's movie, by the way...

moonspinner55 New Jersey college grad goes to New York City to conquer the business world, mangles one job interview and ends up on the Upper East Side working as a nanny (seen as a professional dead-end). Her boss is a high-strung society wife whose husband cheats on her and whose bratty child represents a trophy that needs to be polished. Emma McLaughlin's and Nicola Kraus' bestseller has been unfortunately transformed into a movie blueprint on how not to adapt a successful novel to the screen. With one foot in reality and the other in "Legally Blonde"-land, the film doesn't know what tone to aim for, and the talented cast is left clueless. The writing-directing team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini fails to shape the picture comedically, so that many of the characters come off as repugnant. Distressingly routine and obvious despite a glossy production, with preciously-placed pop songs posted on the soundtrack like highway signs. *1/2 from ****