Nanny Diaries, The

TV Guide Ken Fox

Berman and Pulcini, who turned Harvey Pekar's graphic memoir into the visually inventive, Oscar-nominated "American Splendor," dress this film as an anthropological field diary and add several fabulous touches.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A late-summer delight, a sleek, handsomely made bauble buoyed by a cast much stronger than the flimsy material deserves.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The film belongs to Linney, whose caustic putdowns and status-seeking veneer barely hides her genuine hurt over her husband's philandering and her distant relationship to her own child. No doubt her diaries would be more compelling than the nanny's.

Time Richard Schickel

Something of an odd-duck movie. It is not a broad comedy or a wildly romantic one, either. Nor is it Edith Wharton lite. But it does partake of all those modes in intelligently observant ways.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Meghan Peters

Although Johansson has a knack for nailing most roles, the angry yet fun-loving nanny doesn't quite work for her.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie itself is sort of bland and obvious and comfortable.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Johansson, hair dyed brown to make her seem less glamorous, spices up this bland role.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Weak dramatically, and that limits its overall effectiveness.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

There's a good movie buried inside The Nanny Diaries, and a good cast trying hard to dig it out. Too bad they don't get much help.

Empire Staff (Not credited)

Johansson is no Anne Hathaway in this pleasant but forgettable comedy.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

An adamantly unterrible picture, a reasonably enjoyable diversion.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Despite some clever early fantasy scenes, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's adaptation of best seller The Nanny Diaries won't make Bridget Jones give up her writing.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Satire should be knife-sharp and whip-smart, and The Nanny Diaries never is.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

They should've thrown everything away except the title and the outline. That's what the "Devil Wears Prada" creative team did, and that film turned out a lot richer than this one.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Awash in spurious sentimentality and sniping.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Linney -- this has happened too much to her -- is once again the best thing in a movie that at most achieves a certain mediocrity.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Because The Nanny Diaries is essentially a two-character story whose supporting players are wooden props, it would help if the actors playing the two were evenly matched. But Ms. Johansson’s Annie, who narrates the movie in a glum, plodding voice, is a leaden screen presence, devoid of charm and humor.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The comedy has several inspired moments and a genuine flair for the satiric, but overall the film leaves you cold.

Variety Lael Loewenstein

Rarely rises above standard sitcom fare.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Like the book, the Nanny Diaries movie never finds a dramatic center.

Slate Dana Stevens

Watching the movie is a nonexperience--like the Upper East Side apartment where most of the action takes place, it's lavishly appointed but joyless.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The social bite of the popular novel fades into a generic chick flick.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The very rich are different from you and me. And much worse. That's basically the message of the disappointingly banal Nanny Diaries, a film that is even more lightweight and clichéd than the fluff that was the best-selling book.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Reading this book and watching this movie, as with "The Devil Wears Prada" a year earlier, I'm convinced that chick-lit books are formula - and chick-lit movies are baby formula.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movie's banal fantasies badly chafe any anthropological consideration of what a girl should do with her career. This isn't life. It's Lifetime.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The characters are instantly reversible--the bratty kid turns out to be a sweetie pie, the mother just needs to be told off. Only Giamatti, as the cliched businessman husband, is irredeemable.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

For a light comedy, The Nanny Diaries turns out to have an off-putting theme. It glorifies the romance of slumming.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

As you watch the nannies mistreated and the children left to cry themselves to sleep, the only surprise is that there are no surprises. It’s zombie-land.

The New Yorker David Denby

The material has been turned into a trivially narcissistic product for teen-age girls who want to feel indignant about wrongs they are unlikely to suffer.

Premiere Deborah Day

The supporting players do a serviceable job in their roles, but no amount of Oscar-nominee nuance from Giamatti or Linney can salvage what amounts to a candy-striped trifle for post-collegiate slacker existentialists.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

So tightly constructed of clichés, stereotypes and chick-lit tropes that it's inert; no fresh air can blow in.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

An awful lot of good talent has been squandered in this by-the-numbers film.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

There's something painful about watching Scarlett Johansson, who looks as if she never had an indecisive moment in her life, struggle to seem ineffectual.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A comedic sinkhole, a dramatic tundra.