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Nanny Diaries, The
The Weinstein Company


6.3

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 15 votes
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FILM:

American Splendor

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, Alicia Keys, Cady Huffman, Nicholas Art, Donna Murphy, and Chris Evans

The Nanny Diaries tells the story of the emotional and often humorous journey of Annie Braddock, a young woman from a working-class neighborhood in New Jersey, as she struggles to understand her place in the world. Fresh out of college, she gets tremendous pressure from her nurse mother to find a respectable position in the business world, although Annie would prefer to trade in her BlackBerry for an anthropologist's field diary. Through a serendipitous meeting, Annie ends up in the elite and ritualistic culture of Manhattan's Upper East Side--as remote from Annie's suburban New Jersey upbringing as life in an Amazon tribal village. Choosing to duck out of real life, Annie accepts the position as a nanny for a wealthy family, referred to as simply "the X's." She quickly learns that life is not very rosy on the other side of the tax bracket, as she must cater to the every whim of Mrs. X and her precocious son Grayer, while attempting to avoid the formidable Mr. X. Life becomes even more complicated when Annie falls for a gorgeous neighbor of the X's who she nicknames Harvard Hottie, and is finally forced to explore what she wants to do with her life. (The Weinstein Company)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Nicola Kraus (novel) Emma McLaughlin (novel) Robert Pulcini Shari Springer Berman
DIRECTED BY:	Robert Pulcini Shari Springer Berman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 4, 2007 Theatrical: August 24, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	106 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Roshan K. gave it a1:
Extremely boring and tedious with cliche characters.

Erica gave it a9:
There were certainly some things that could be improved, but for the most I found this movie to be very pleasant. It was funny, well acted and charming. Even my boyfriend (whose favourite movie is 300) liked it, and he is hard to please.

Chad S. gave it a5:
When Mrs. X(Laura Linney) finally reveals her sensitive side(like Miranda Preistly(Meryl Streep) in "The Devil Wears Prada"), her vulnerability beneath the mask of apathetic nonchalance, we're not buying it. She's more believable as an unrepentant bitch. Her epiphany doesn't come about organically. It's too formulaic, and downright idiotic. Didn't she screen the damn tape? Thanks to some convoluted writing, Scarlett Johannsen gets to make an obvious speech about bad parenting. Linney gets to cry. Even when "The Nanny Diaries" is a passable entertainment about self-centered rich people, the film is watered down by Annie's romance with Dean(John Henry Cox). She feels bad for Grayer(Nicholas Art), but apparently, not that bad. She gets some.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Great underlaying message - was surprisingly uncliched (?) Thoroughly enjoyable.

G-Rad Andrew gave it a5:
Not much of a guy movie, but it was an all right family film that's for sure.

G.M D.K gave it an8:
Ultimately entertaining and charming all together.

K. B. gave it a0:
It was the worst movie I have attempted to see in a really long time. I say attempted, because I didn't make it to the end. We managed a good 40 minutes into it -- which is about 30 minutes longer than my companions wanted to stay. Cheesy, cheesy, horrible writing. And just not funny or even cute.

Nanny Diaries, The The Weinstein Company

Nanny Diaries, The
The Weinstein Company