Movie Review: The Babysitters (2007)

A social drama, The Babysitters conjures up a devious but truncated feminist take on the business of sex between married men and babysitters.

High school student Shirley (Katherine Waterston) is facing normal pressures of preparing for college applications and entrance exams. She also babysits the children of Michael (John Leguizamo) and Gail (Cynthia Nixon). Their marriage appears tense, which encourages Shirley's crush on Michael. One evening Shirley and Michael share a sexual encounter, which he ends by throwing a handsome amount of money at her.

Realizing she will never be more than a sexual plaything for Michael, the entrepreneurial Shirley monetizes married men's lust for babysitters, and starts recruiting other high school girls for a prostitution ring. Her best friend Melissa (Lauren Birkel) emerges as her strongest business ally, but word soon spreads and rival girls establish competing businesses, creating a strong undercurrent of conflict and tension at school.

An independent production written and directed by David Ross, The Babysitters latches onto a complicated idea but is not quite sure what to do with it. The concept of high school girls profiting from the uncontrolled philandering of married men by organizing for-profit prostitution cartels is intriguing, not least because it is fraught with the pitfalls of a three-way collision between capitalism, feminism and the oldest profession unfolding in quaint suburbia.

Ross avoids all hints of titillation by almost completely stripping the film of any emotion, and this becomes a double-edged sword. Michael is the only character to display some semblance of conflict, but John Leguizamo fights an uphill battle against a script uninterested in warmth or depth. The other men are almost uniformly portrayed as doofus husbands and fathers quick to trade money for sex and unable to control their most base urges.

Meanwhile Shirley knows when she is being used and strikes back with pure economics, but her anger at men's transactional perception of babysitter sex can only carry the narrative so far. Likewise the other girls adopt a strictly business stance and march into whoredom in an almost trance-like state, middle class women-to-be seizing an opportunity to fund a college education (or buy more makeup and glitter).

Without any genuine human connections to latch onto, The Babysitters crumbles into a cold and calculating battle between competing girls to control the market, and unfortunately none of it registers as relatable drama. The plot devolves into a series of nasty and borderline exploitive actions featuring drugs, alcohol and mechanical sex as a weapon, a combination of connivance and naivete predictably leading to messy disappointments for all.

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The Movies Of Cynthia Nixon

All movies starring Cynthia Nixon and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Little Darlings (1980)

Amadeus (1984)

The Pelican Brief (1993)

Marvin's Room (1996)

The Babysitters (2007)

Sex And The City (2008)

Too Big To Fail (2011)

Rampart (2011)

5 Flights Up (2014)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: 5 Flights Up (2014)

A drama about dealing with change late in life, 5 Flights Up (also known as Ruth and Alex) is an amiable story about what matters and why.

Alex and Ruth Carver (Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton) are an elderly biracial couple who have lived in the same 5 story walk up Brooklyn apartment for more than 30 years. The lack of an elevator is catching up with them, and Ruth's niece Lilly (Cynthia Nixon), a real estate agent, has convinced them it's time to sell. Alex, a struggling artist all his life, is not quite sure that selling is the right thing to do, but grumpily goes along.

As prospective buyers troop through their apartment during an open house, he recalls their early days as a ground breaking newly-married couple (Korey Jackson and Claire van der Boom) moving into the neighbourhood. A bidding war heats up for the Carver's unit and the selling price approaches $1 million. As Ruth and Alex start their own frantic search for another place to live, two other stories unfold simultaneously: the media breathlessly covers a police chase for a possible terrorist on the loose in New York City; and the Carver's aging dog Dorothy undergoes expensive surgery for a back ailment.

Directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Charlie Peters, 5 Flights Up focuses on the deeply personal crossroads of one couple, but captures some universally applicable truths. The film's strength is that there is absolutely nothing unique about the decision point facing Alex and Ruth. Indeed, even the expanded narrative about the media's frenzy over a terrorist manhunt and the pet in distress stays in the realm of the routine. Loncraine uses the familiar to focus on a couple still very much comfortably in love grappling with uncomfortable changes at an advanced stage in their relationship, and the human dynamics and emotions ring true.

The film enjoys a calm, modest pace, the economical 92 minutes suitable for the small story about big transformations. Brooklyn has gentrified, real estate prices are unimaginable, the world of violence and 24 hour inaccurate coverage is at the literal doorstep, and everything demands accelerated attention. Alex views the world around with soulful eyes, accepting the need for time to move on but not quite sure that it's for the better.

The only solid rock foundation is the love between Alex and Ruth. They accommodate and tolerate each other with a natural commitment built on years of trust. Both contribute pebbles in the shoes of the marriage, but as with all couples who have made it through decades of marriage, Alex and Ruth are not so much two distinct people as they are one entity driven by two complementary psyches. Loncraine captures their union with a serene beauty: no matter what craziness is going on, this is an unshakable marriage.

Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman instantaneously click as a couple, and the veterans navigate the film with a natural smoothness. Cynthia Nixon nails the manic intensity of a real estate agent operating on hyperdrive and surviving on the oxygen emanating from a restless cell phone.

5 Flights Up may be about nothing that matters in the grand scheme of things, and it ambles towards the contentment of a predictable outcome. But it achieves its modest goals with the warmth of seasoned affection.

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Film Review: Sex and the City (2008)

It's four years later. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) has settled into a relationship with Big (Chris Noth), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has settled into life in Brooklyn, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has settled into the role of wife and mother, and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has settled in LA, managing the career of her long-term lover.

None of this settling is without troubles brewing beneath the surface, as Carrie is longing for the re-assurance of marriage, Miranda has little time for wifely duties, Charlotte is about to receive a surprise and Samantha is gradually getting resentful that her life is not revolving around her.

And so we are off on a two-hour adventure with the ladies who forever transformed television, as they tackle life's latest challenges, this time on the big screen, dressed from head to toe in the latest designer clothes and accessories, visiting the trendiest restaurants, and in Samantha's case, seemingly spending every other day jetting from LA to New York and back.

There are no disappointments here for fans of the series. There is fashion, fashion, and more fashion, everything from out-there everyday outfits to wedding dresses (an excuse is found for a wedding dress photo-shoot), to haute couture (an excuse is found to attend a fashion show) to the latest designer shoes (an excuse is found for a pair of shoes to play a role in the storyline) to the latest designer handbags (yes, another role in the script is found for a handbag). Not an opportunity is missed to show a designer label, and no less is expected.

There are many gab-sessions over many meals and (mostly) many drinks. The full supporting cast from the series is back, and there is the welcome addition of Jennifer Hudson (of Dreamgirls and American Idol fame) as Carrie's new assistant.

What about the Sex, and the City? Plenty of both. Sex is near the core of the issues that Miranda and Samantha have to deal with, and as an added bonus, Samantha finds herself living next to a hunk who is always either (a) naked; (b) getting naked; or (c) naked and having wild passionate sex, with at least one partner. It's mostly (c), actually. As for the City, although the plot finds an excuse for a quick interlude at a five-star Mexico resort, and there are several scenes at Samantha's dreamy LA beach house, New York remains very much the fifth member of the group. Key locations that play a part in the film include the public library, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, many restaurants, a luxurious penthouse apartment, and even City Hall.

The friendships, the fights, the misunderstandings, the make-up sessions, and the comedy are all here, appropriately proportioned to the big-screen experience, and as usual with Love being the emotion at the core of everything. Searching for it, finding it, being afraid to lose it, and trusting in it. It's also a nice touch for one of the other central themes of the movie to be the age of the central characters, now in their 40's, and a bridge is built to the next generation in their 20-somethings through Hudson's character.

It is rare for a TV series to translate so well to the big screen, but Sex and the City succeeds without the slightest stumble. It is highly recommended, of course for all women, and for all men who want to try and understand them.

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