The Babysitters (2007)

33% of critics liked it
(27 reviews)
34% of users liked it
(2,852 ratings)

A bored suburban husband finds his affair with a high-school babysitter fast snowballing out of control in this black comedy from first-time screenwriter/director David Ross. Shirley (Katherine Waterston) is a brainy honors student who is always thinking about the future, and works part-time as a… More A bored suburban husband finds his affair with a high-school babysitter fast snowballing out of control in this black comedy from first-time screenwriter/director David Ross. Shirley (Katherine Waterston) is a brainy honors student who is always thinking about the future, and works part-time as a babysitter in order to save up for college. Among Shirley's regular charges are spirited youngsters Adam and Mikey, the offspring of respected father Michael (John Leguizamo) and his pretty wife, Gail (Cynthia Nixon). Shirley has always had an innocent crush on Michael, but one night after her regular shift, things take a serious turn when the pair sneaks a furtive kiss. Lately Michael has become noticeably depressed by the suburban routine, longing for the days before family responsibility weighed him down and his wife turned into the typical minivan-driving soccer mom. Shirley's kiss makes Michael feel alive again, and as a result he gives her a substantial tip that night. Before long, however, a fleeting kiss has turned into a full-fledged affair, with Michael and Shirley using the babysitting shifts as cover. When Michael's married friends catch wind of his extramarital exploits, they, too, express the want for a babysitter who is willing to earn a healthy tip. Recognizing the potential for profit in such a situation, Shirley soon assumes the role of teenage madam -- matching up her high-school friends with otherwise upstanding men who have grown bored with married life. Of course, Shirley isn't above skimming a bit of the profits for her college fund, but then again it's only a matter of time before their carefully crafted cover is blown. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: David Ross
Written By: David Ross
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: May 9, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Sep 16, 2008
Studio: Peace Arch Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
It's bad enough that writer-director David Ross indulges in the very perverse kind of Lolita-tinged titillation the film pretends to lament, but then he ties everything up with an oh-well shrug.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Until it crosses a shadowy line dividing serious comedy from distasteful exploitation, The Babysitters has the makings of an incisive satire of greed and lust in suburbia.
Susan Walker, Toronto Star
The script has a stale air, like something that was doing the rounds for a long time before David Ross found backers to make a film out of it.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Although the film is pitched as dark comedy, there's nothing very funny about the sexualization of teenagers.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
I'd call it a depressing soft-core porn flick, but that overstates its titillation factor. Mainly it's just icky.
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
It reads like a Cinemax special event, and as good as Leguizamo and Waterston (daughter of Sam) are, the skeevy, fantasy-fulfillment plot that drives David Ross' movie is uncomfortably risky business.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
A pathetic excuse to trot out a procession of teenage girls in the raw, performing graphic simulated sex acts with your basic suburban family man drooling all over himself.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
A pathetic excuse to trot out a procession of teenage girls in the raw, performing graphic simulated sex acts with your basic suburban family man drooling all over himself.
Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly
Their customers are awkward enough that we're able to believe the girls are in control, or at least aware that they're the highlight of the men's week.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
David Ross's stylishly tawdry black comedy fits neatly between Heathers and American Beauty. The Babysitters Club this ain't.
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
You can see the potential in this off-kilter coming-of-age story, and it's a pity it never quite adds up.
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com
Is Ross trying to mimic Michael Haneke, daring his audience to be disgusted by the very titillating premise which probably brought them to the movie in the first place?
Paul Brenner, Filmcritic.com
confused
Geoff Berkshire, Metromix.com
Like the pilot for an awful, misguided joint venture between FX and the CW.
David Noh, Film Journal International
There's little real wit here and, as far as teen-chick antics go, it's definitely no Heathers or Clueless, not even Cruel Intentions.
Mark Peikert, New York Press
By undermining the subtle feminism of his movie, [director] Ross ends up undermining the whole thing, culminating in a terrifying parking-lot scene that doesn't quite make sense.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bruce B

Cute girls but Very disappointing. 3 stars
J P

Such a weird, dirty movie. There isn't really an ending to it; the movie just kind of....ends. Like the director said "okay guys, that's good enough. Let's just stop here." So many unanswered questions and plot holes. The characters are all pretty… More
Such a weird, dirty movie. There isn't really an ending to it; the movie just kind of....ends. Like the director said "okay guys, that's good enough. Let's just stop here." So many unanswered questions and plot holes. The characters are all pretty unlikable. Shirley's character evolved from a sweet innocent adolescent into a slutty greedy bitch towards the end. The whole movie didn't really have a point. A bunch of girls babysit kids then afterwards screw the fathers and get paid extra for it. There's no dilemma here. The movie focuses mainly on the affairs, and not on anything else. So we never know how the father's family react to the affair (if they even ever found out), we never know if Shirley made enough money for college or whatever, and we don't know if any of the father's ever got caught or not. It's just teenagers sexing up middle aged men. It's kind of disturbing and gross. It's a stupid movie really. Nothing happens. You walk away going "Whaaaaaat theeee fuuuuckkkk did I just watch?" Yeah, dumb movie for sure. I only watched it FTR because I was sick and I had a Netflix marathon. I watched every single movie on my queue. It was awesome....except for this movie. This movie was not awesome.
Dean !

Quite an average film in the end, more of a drama. One for the trailer made it look a lot better category that's for sure.
Dean L

Initially I thought this was going to be a tawdry attempt to recapture the genius of "Heathers." It was not. It was also not, as some might assume, a "skin flick." If you are looking for that there is very little here so look elsewhere. Mid-life crisis meets… More
Initially I thought this was going to be a tawdry attempt to recapture the genius of "Heathers." It was not. It was also not, as some might assume, a "skin flick." If you are looking for that there is very little here so look elsewhere. Mid-life crisis meets teenage angst. Here the teens are searching for a way to express themselves as well as turn a profit and the middle-aged men are portrayed as, well...quite pathetic. The story takes some very interesting turns as the plotline begins with our 'protagonist,' Shirley and her crush on the Father (John Leguizamo) on one of her babysitting jobs. Their tryst turns into much more as Shirley's OCD sharpened mind organizes a scheme breaking all the socially acceptable mores set in sexually repressed suburbia. Supply and demand meets moral turpitude. There are more than a few surprises and the performances are quite good. In addition, the tone set by direction and cinematography lend itself to realism as we are both drawn in and repulsed by what is happening. This is a sharply written commentary and one that you should watch if you get the chance.
Bobby H

This movie starts out with what seems to be a strong plot... A troubled teen and her troubled friends start a babysitting service that focuses on something far from babysitting, when the fathers take the sitters home, stachatory rape and adultry become the movies theme. It was… More
This movie starts out with what seems to be a strong plot... A troubled teen and her troubled friends start a babysitting service that focuses on something far from babysitting, when the fathers take the sitters home, stachatory rape and adultry become the movies theme. It was interesting to say the least, but that's about where the movie ends.... There's not solid ending what so ever on the movie, its a great plot with a dead end story, no follow up story, and a lot of bad actors aside from John Leguizamo. Overall: This movie is seems like a movie that had a good idea and let it all go to waste. It's one of the possibly best movies that turned into the worse, that I ever seen....
Lorenzo v

"These girls mean business." A teenager turns her babysitting service into a call-girl service for married guys after fooling around with one of her customers. REVIEW A disengaging little movie about high school… More
"These girls mean business." A teenager turns her babysitting service into a call-girl service for married guys after fooling around with one of her customers. REVIEW A disengaging little movie about high school girls who do more than babysitting kids. The movie as a whole is pretty much uninspired, with no character development with the lead whatsoever. One day she's a shy, cute high school girl the next she's a wildfire screwing everything that moves. The process that took her from shy, anal retentive girl to a wildfire of a woman is just done in one scene, there was just no point to it. I won't spoil the movie in here but the "climactic" scene at the end was so far fetched it felt like the writer/directer lost his focus and just slapped that in as a quick fix to end the movie. I'm really shocked that someone actually wrote and directed this. That sort of implies that the creator was heavily invested. This is like a love letter to pedophiles all over the world.
Christopher H

Honest yet undeniably misfired, The Babysitters plays too much on the idea of pimps and hoes instead of aiming at the idea of misguided youth searching for meaning in their lives. The plot grows repetitious with constant shifts in the girls and their attitudes towards one another… More
Honest yet undeniably misfired, The Babysitters plays too much on the idea of pimps and hoes instead of aiming at the idea of misguided youth searching for meaning in their lives. The plot grows repetitious with constant shifts in the girls and their attitudes towards one another along with their feelings towards their new found jobs. The motivation of the characters is weak, leaving me skeptical throughout the entire film. The backstabbing seems misguided and uneventful and the ending is downright horrible. John Lequizamo has his moments as do many of the girls, but this film completely misses its mark.
Lovable M

Under-developed story with no real plot or any story at all really. It also had very poor character development to the degree that you didn't even care what happened to any of them.
Barry L

High school goody goody myseriously turns into a hard faced madame overnight whilst sleeping with as many middle aged blokes as she and her friends can...whilst babysitting......hmmmm. Totally improbable and a waste of such a potentially good film. The premis could really have been… More
High school goody goody myseriously turns into a hard faced madame overnight whilst sleeping with as many middle aged blokes as she and her friends can...whilst babysitting......hmmmm. Totally improbable and a waste of such a potentially good film. The premis could really have been explored so much more which would have made this such a good film but they failed. They could have gone down the comedy route and it would have been great, they could have made it edgy and hard and that would have been great, they just seemed to wash it out completely and thats a shame. If your a 50 year old pervert looking to watch 17 year old girls topless this is for you.....
Remi L

Wow. Needless to say I was surprised when I saw this film about a teenage babysitter sleeps with her boss and then decides to turn it into a business. Need someone to watch your kids AND sleep with your husband while you're away? Then the Babysitters is the group for you! What… More
Wow. Needless to say I was surprised when I saw this film about a teenage babysitter sleeps with her boss and then decides to turn it into a business. Need someone to watch your kids AND sleep with your husband while you're away? Then the Babysitters is the group for you! What made it more scandalous than the premise already was, was how eager the other girls were to be a part of the business. I didn't really take any life lesson out of it, other than that it seems that there are a lot more hoes in high school than I thought =/
Leo L

Here's an interesting story plot that centralizes around one young aspiring high school student who becomes involved with an older, married family man. Their affair becomes consistent, and it creates a sort of dating-under-the cover of babysitting children for married men. John… More
Here's an interesting story plot that centralizes around one young aspiring high school student who becomes involved with an older, married family man. Their affair becomes consistent, and it creates a sort of dating-under-the cover of babysitting children for married men. John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon stars. Worth seeing!