The Nanny Diaries
The Nanny Diaries is perhaps an unexpected follow-up to American Splendor from the married writing/directing team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. The bestselling book, by two former nannies to the moneyed families of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, takes an anthropological view at the parenting particularites of this community. The film takes a while to get going and at times is reminiscent of everything from Mean Girls to The Devil Wears Prada. By the time a series of misunderstandings have led would-be anthropologist Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) to her new job, the film’s observations and performances have elevated a familiar premise to a whimsical ethnography of New York’s haves and have-nots.
Jersey shore native Annie has recently graduated with a business and anthropology degree thanks to her single mother’s years of hard work and overtime as a nurse. Although her mother pushes her towards a high-powered and secure career in finance, Annie yearns for field work and graduate school. A chance meeting with a glamorous mom, referred to as Mrs. X (Laura Linney) and her “feral” tyke Greyer (Nicholas Reese Art), gives Annie the chance for research after all. Of course, she will have to keep this a secret from her well-intentioned mother and isolate herself from friends and potential male distractions like Mrs. X’s neighbor “Harvard Hottie” (Chris Evans).
The Nanny Diaries gets a lot of comedic mileage out of putting the eccentricities of the rich in a global, historical context. These jokes didn’t go over particularly well in the screening and I couldn’t tell if it was because the deconstruction was heavy-handed or if the critique hit the Upper West Side audience – many of them apparent Mrs. Xes-in-training – a little too close to home. I think it was the latter. Surprisingly, through Annie, the film even touches on the class and racial inequalities that underscore the nanny market in New York City. The story also implicitly pokes fun at the failures of second-wave feminism, which helped to integrate the workforce only to have the women with access to the best jobs and education opt out of working entirely and hire poor women of color to replace them in their domestic duties so that they could … uh, plan benefits for poor people of color. If it sounds heavy, it’s not.
As the narcissistic and controlling Mrs. X, Linney is characteristically brilliant. This woman has yet to hit a false note in any film. Her role requires her to be both horribly callous and sympathetic as she suffers under the appalling cruelty of Mr. X (a sneeringly evil Paul Giamatti). She accomplishes both tasks admirably and is fascinating to watch. Johansson tackles the film’s comedy with gusto although her initial scenes are a little stiff, as if she is trying to figure out why she is in a movie not directed by Woody Allen or playing a sexpot. Really, what woman in their right mind would hire someone who looks like Johansson, even with her dyed brown hair and thrift-store threads, to live in their house with their wandering-eyed husband? Hasn’t The Hand That Rocks the Cradle taught us anything?
Young Nicholas Art as Greyer is adorable with a bowl haircut to boot. He and Johansson obviously developed a great connection on the set and it shows in their touching on-screen interactions. As “Harvard Hottie”, up and coming pinup Evans lives up to the name considering that his character is written in the blandest, least inspiring way imaginable. Evans has a great deal of charm and is certainly much better than he needs to be in a stock “good guy” role.
If The Nanny Diaries doesn’t entirely escape the usual chick-flick conventions, it’s occasionally tart social observations and enjoyable performances provide better than average summer fare.
© 2007 Robyn Citizen. All rights reserved.
Leave a Response
You must be logged in to post a comment.
