X
  • 2008
  • R
  • Peace Arch Releasing
  • 1 h 28 m
  • 2008
  • R
  • Peace Arch Releasing
  • 1 h 28 m

Summary Sixteen-year-old Shirley Lyner is an honor student working as a babysitter and saving for college. She's developed a crush on Michael Beltran, the father of two of her babysitting regulars. One night on the way home, Michael and Shirley kiss, and he pays her a little something extra. They continue their affair, using the nights Shirley b...

Directed By: David Ross

Written By: David Ross

  • 2008
  • R
  • Peace Arch Releasing
  • 1 h 28 m
  • 2008
  • R
  • Peace Arch Releasing
  • 1 h 28 m

The Babysitters

Metascore Generally Unfavorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
35
User Score Mixed or Average Based on 19 User Ratings
4.9
My Score
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Where to Watch

Summary Sixteen-year-old Shirley Lyner is an honor student working as a babysitter and saving for college. She's developed a crush on Michael Beltran, the father of two of her babysitting regulars. One night on the way home, Michael and Shirley kiss, and he pays her a little something extra. They continue their affair, using the nights Shirley b...

Directed By: David Ross

Written By: David Ross

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Unfavorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
35
18% Positive
2 Reviews
36% Mixed
4 Reviews
45% Negative
5 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
35
18% Positive
2 Reviews
36% Mixed
4 Reviews
45% Negative
5 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
75
If Leguizamo imports a hint of pathos into his performance, Waterston adds a dollop of menace to hers, delivering another of Ross's attacks on what separates girls from men. In this world, women are their own worst enemy.
FULL REVIEW
60
The film remains engaging in no small part because of the beguiling and enigmatic performance of Waterston, daughter of "Law & Order" star Sam Waterston. It is a shame she isn't given a better context in which to thrive.
FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 19 User Ratings
4.9
32% Positive
6 Ratings
32% Mixed
6 Ratings
37% Negative
7 Ratings

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 19 User Ratings
4.9
32% Positive
6 Ratings
32% Mixed
6 Ratings
37% Negative
7 Ratings

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
10
faye1907
Jul 5, 2014
This was the greatest movie i have ever seen, it needs a squeal though as it ended suddenly and left me wishing there was more. Does she go back to the work. Doesn't she. I have lost sleep over this.
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9
toastedalmond
Oct 4, 2014
An excellent movie with fantastic performances that challenges puritan-based sexual taboos that maybe are not ready to be challenged in the USA yet. Katherine Watson is great in this film. The whole cast is solid. It is an entertaining, sexually daring, drama that is thoroughly enjoyable. I think it would have gained from more stylistic direction but I am glad this movie was made. While it is not surprising that most critics felt they had to condemn the content it is interesting to see which values are acceptable to shatter in any given decade. Anyway, some of us thoroughly enjoy watching films that break rules. This is a good movie.
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50
It ultimately fails to deliver on the audacity of its premise. Neither truly original nor a guilty-pleasure genre spin, the picture lacks a hook for general audiences who may find the subject matter distasteful as presented.
FULL REVIEW
40
It reads like a Cinemax special event, and as good as Leguizamo and Waterston are, the skeevy, fantasy-fulfillment plot that drives David Ross' movie is uncomfortably risky business.
By Joe Neumaier FULL REVIEW
30
Shirley’s instant metamorphosis from insecure high school student to ruthless madam is ludicrous in spite of the best efforts of the talented Ms. Waterston to convince you otherwise. The Babysitters has the increasingly jerky momentum of a film that was butchered in the cutting room, sacrificing continuity and character development to whip the plot forward.
By Stephen Holden FULL REVIEW
30
Ultimately, the film's view of female self-loathing and girl-on-girl exploitation is woefully reductive and painful.
FULL REVIEW
0
A special place in purgatory must be reserved for John Leguizamo, who produced and stars in The Babysitters, a loathsome slice of exploitation at its most cynical and crass.
By Ann Hornaday FULL REVIEW
See All 11 Critic Reviews
6
Meth-dude
Apr 20, 2017
It was a pretty stupid movie. Unbelievable at times, disappointing at other, it had an original idea and a pretty good cast, but it somehow ended up being disappointing. It's not a particularly bad movie, it's just not that good.
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3
JLuis_001
Jan 12, 2021
Many directors and writers fail in films that deal with these issues because they believe they're exploring them adequately, but they don't realize they end up being just as exploitative as films that actually embrace the thematic to be like that. Like in this film in which the director give in to an approach that enables a sort of middle-aged suburban male fantasy with teenagers.
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Details

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Production Company Forensic Films, O.D.D. Entertainment, Upload Films
Release Date May 9, 2008
Duration 1 h 28 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline These girls mean business.
View All Details

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