Python Hyena The Nanny Diaries (2007): Dir: Shari Springer Berman / Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, Chris Evans, Alicia Keys: Recycled story about progression and accomplishment. Scarlett Johansson trudges through familiar territory as someone trying to find herself and lands a job as a nanny for a spoiled brat. Setup is paced well otherwise it is formula heading to a gushy ending. Director Shari Springer Berman does an inspiring job with visual images but that is about the height of creativity here. Johansson is a fine talent undergoing the lead in a film that does her absolutely no justice and could hinder her chances at superior projects as a lead. She is traveling a road so many others have traveled to similar avail. We know the outcome and it hardly matters. Laura Linney is the too busy doing nothing mother who will get told by Johansson to get her act together. Again, another actress traveling material done before. Paul Giamatti plays the horny pig-headed workaholic father who has no time for family. Too bad he wasn't too busy for this dreaded film. Chris Evans is wasted as a potential boyfriend. He is basically a romantic prop with all the personality of floor cleaner. And how Alicia Keys taking a moment to star in this bullshit formula driven garbage? All that's left is a tired retread and an entry in the diary that should read, "Johansson, fire your agent!" Score: 3 / 10

mauro volvox Like chamomile tea, the Nanny Diaries is fragrant, has a delicate almost bland taste, is not bad at all, but after a while is totally forgotten. It is not going to harm you, but is not going to be a memorable experience either.For a movie that was supposed to be a comedy, this one is missing a few laughters. There are a few funny moments, but for the most part it is a light drama.This is a typical chick-flick for a cold rainy day. It is not a kid's movie, by the way...

moonspinner55 New Jersey college grad goes to New York City to conquer the business world, mangles one job interview and ends up on the Upper East Side working as a nanny (seen as a professional dead-end). Her boss is a high-strung society wife whose husband cheats on her and whose bratty child represents a trophy that needs to be polished. Emma McLaughlin's and Nicola Kraus' bestseller has been unfortunately transformed into a movie blueprint on how not to adapt a successful novel to the screen. With one foot in reality and the other in "Legally Blonde"-land, the film doesn't know what tone to aim for, and the talented cast is left clueless. The writing-directing team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini fails to shape the picture comedically, so that many of the characters come off as repugnant. Distressingly routine and obvious despite a glossy production, with preciously-placed pop songs posted on the soundtrack like highway signs. *1/2 from ****

donwc1996 I'm a big fan of Laura Linney and think she's one of the most interesting actresses around, but this film is a disaster and so is she. Very depressing. But the movie lost me with Linney's very first scene in which she introduces herself as "Mrs. X." Mrs. X? Why in heaven's name would any character in a film be called Mrs. X? I thought it was a joke and laughed. But then I realized that was her character's name and that would be her name throughout the film. I just couldn't believe it. I could not imagine why the producers would allow such a thing. It knocked the very bottom out of the film for me. But I kept watching so see if it had any saving grace and discovered it did not - at all. The script stunk - no two ways about it. It's too bad because the book was big and had lots of fans but this movie did not live up to the book and should have been made by someone else. The pair behind it simply did not know how to deal with the material they had.