SYNOPSIS:
Scarlett
Johansson is Annie, a young college grad from working-class
New Jersey who becomes a nanny for Manhattan socialite and mother
from hell "Mrs X". As Annie balances her boss's demands
with her attraction to "Harvard Hottie", she learns
all about life, love and surviving in the urban jungle.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Wikipedia defines 'chick flick' as films designed
to appeal to a female target audience. We at MX has it a lot
easier, movies that star the likes of Scarlet Johansson or
Jessica Alba and with romance or comedy as genres automatically
falls under 'chick flick' category.
In
"The Nanny Diaries", Scarlet Johansson stars as
Annie Braddock, a newly business graduate who has more interest
in the field of anthropology than finance. At the crossroads
of her life, she accidentally became a ‘nanny’
for a rich Upper East Side couple, Mr and Mrs X (played by
Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney).
Based
on a bestselling novel of the same name, writers/directors
Robert Pulcinini and Shari Springer Berman tries hard to infuse
social satire, romance and comedy to the movie, a pity consider
the huge potential. Perhaps of the fact that we do not belong
on top of the high social ladder of the rich and famous, the
relationships between Mrs X and Annie comes across as a major
damper to a supposedly feel good comedy chick flick. Fortunately,
Laura Linney’s convincing cold, menacing performance
as Mrs X which constitutes the chunk of "The Nanny Diaries"
helps to get the audience get by.
Paul
Giamatti on the other hand appears as Mr X, a role which Giamatti
could have easily chewed up the screen given enough character
development but sadly not. Fantastic Four alumni Chris Evans
plays 'Harvard hottie', the love interest of Scarlett’s
character but yet again a role that succumb to weak plotting.
That
leaves Scarlett Johansson. The husky-voice beauty has been
critically snubbed after her "Lost in Translation"
days although I find her performance here pretty natural and
captivating, enough to glue me to the screen for 105 minutes.
What
ultimately fails is the direction of "The Nanny Diaries"
instead of the cast performance. There just aren’t enough
rom-com elements to satisfy a typical 'looking-for-a-good-time'
movie-goer, way too haphazard and populated with too many
cheesy elements to take it seriously. And strangly, there
are some dreamlike, Mary Poppins sequences that appears pretty
much out-of-place with the tone of the movie.
That
said, "The Nanny Diaries" is still an engaging piece
of cinema. Don’t miss the opening introduction and narration
as it’s very well-done, just don’t go pop in the
DVD thinking it’s a digestible 'chick flick'. The movie
is trying to tell us a message but the marketing doesn’t
seem to do so.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
NIL.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
If you dislike a 16x9 fullscreen presentation, this DVD actually
is one. Visual transfer on the other hand is pleasant and
audio which are dialogue-based is crisp and clear.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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