The Sitter (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• MisterYoda ?

  
  three stars!

• J P

  
  Adding review later.

• Bruce B

  
  Jonah Hill once again rises to the top in this adult comedy. About a college student who baby sits the next door kids, so his mom can go out on a date, the night holds many twist and turns. This is not a movie for those under the age of 17, and defiantly not a family night movie. But… More
  Jonah Hill once again rises to the top in this adult comedy. About a college student who baby sits the next door kids, so his mom can go out on a date, the night holds many twist and turns. This is not a movie for those under the age of 17, and defiantly not a family night movie. But for adults 4 1/2 stars.

• Chris W

  
  This is essentially a low brow, lowest common denominator rehash of Adventures in Babysitting, without all the dated charm. Not that that film was a masterpiece or anything, but it's at least likeable and doesn't seem nearly as forced or ridiculous as this dreck. Jonah Hill… More
  This is essentially a low brow, lowest common denominator rehash of Adventures in Babysitting, without all the dated charm. Not that that film was a masterpiece or anything, but it's at least likeable and doesn't seem nearly as forced or ridiculous as this dreck. Jonah Hill breaks no new ground as a 20 something stay at home slacker who still relies on his mom named Noah. He gets roped into babysitting for three troublesome kids, and along the way gets talked into scoring some coke for his "girlfirend" who is only really using him. He sets out, with kids in tow to score the drugs, hoping to finally get some sexual reciprocation from the uncaring whore. Of course, things don't go as planned, and a madcap adventure ensues that sees Noah and the kids bonding and learning life lessons, and all that touchy feely crap. It's a tired premise, with dull, painful execution. SOme of the sentimental stuff is actually not too bad, but it deserved to be in a much better movie. This film sucks, but it actually does have a few genuinely amusing moments. Unfortunately, there's a lot of jokes that just don't work, situations I don't buy, and some decently talented people wasting their abilities.... ..namely Sam Rockwell as the chief antagonist drug dealer. It's such a weird performance. He does the menacing part great, but he's also annoyign at times, and it's a wildly uneven job he's doing. It's kinda like the drug scene from Boogie Nights, only played painfully campy and stupid. It's a dan shame too, because I initially thought that he would be the saving grace of the film, and, while he does help out some, he ultimately fails to make the film work as a whole. Hill is sleepwalking through this, and Max Records, who was great in Where the Wild Things Are, does decently enough, but like Rockwell, doesn't quite rescue the film. Apparently when David Gordon Green directed Pineapple Express, he did it as a way of changing things up, and doing something different from what he'd been doing previously. That's fine, but it seems that he's decided to just stick with that kinda thing instead of returning to his old stomping grounds. That wouldn't be a problem if his post PE films (so far) have really sucked. I pray that, no matter what type of film he decides to make that he pick himself up out of this slump of crap and go back to making something worthwhile.

• KJ P

  
  As I was watching "The Sitter" I kept asking myself why I even bothered to waste my time. Jonah Hill plays an asshole teenager who's mother is going out for the night. He get's asked by his mother to babysit for her friends kids. There is one girl and two boys. The… More
  As I was watching "The Sitter" I kept asking myself why I even bothered to waste my time. Jonah Hill plays an asshole teenager who's mother is going out for the night. He get's asked by his mother to babysit for her friends kids. There is one girl and two boys. The girl is highly influenced by pop culture, one of the boys "has issues," and the other has an obsession with blowing stuff up. Now, the fact that Jonah Hill's character has a girlfriend is the absolutely only reason for any of the events that occur. This is an exact representation of "The Adventures in Babysitting," but a raunchier and much dumber version. This is Jonah Hill's absolute worst career choice. I mean, I laughed a few times, but it was because it was either slapstick or the use of the word "fu&k." Those are two things that are very hard to "not" laugh at, even if it is very lame. I must say that "The Sitter" is one of the worst films of 2011 and I will never watch it again. It is poorly shot, poorly edited, and just downright offensive. Jonah Hill and Sam Rockwell should be ashamed of themselves. "The Sitter" has nothing good going for it and that can be seen during the first scene. Stay far away, and I don't think "The Adventure in Babysitting" is by any means great, but it is great compared to this!

• Lewis C

  
  A funny, vulgar, weird little comedy that made me laugh at times but still seemed a little too long, despite the fact that it lasted less than an hour and a half. Worth renting, but I doubt I'd buy it or watch it repeatedly.

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Jonah Hill, Max Records, Ari Graynor, J.B. Smoove, Sam Rockwell, Landry Bender, Kevin Hernandez, Kylie Bunbury, Method Man, D.W. Moffett, Dreama Walker, Jessica Hecht, Alex Wolff Director: David Gordon Green Summary: Jonah Hill stars in this giddy comedy about a student whose… More
  Cast: Jonah Hill, Max Records, Ari Graynor, J.B. Smoove, Sam Rockwell, Landry Bender, Kevin Hernandez, Kylie Bunbury, Method Man, D.W. Moffett, Dreama Walker, Jessica Hecht, Alex Wolff Director: David Gordon Green Summary: Jonah Hill stars in this giddy comedy about a student whose suspension from college leaves him available to baby-sit his mom's neighbors' children. The poor guy, however, has no idea what fate and the kids have in store for him. My Thoughts: "I like raunchy goofy films. But when their done right. This isn't the right way. This movie falls flat of being funny, more annoying with all it's chliche's and annoying character's. A kid cursing or trying to act like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian isn't funny. It's tacky and tasteless. I expect better from Jonah, Sam, Ari, and David. The storyline has been used and abused so many times that if you are going to attempt it, make it original. Bring something fresh to the table. This is like a really bad version of Adeventures in Babysitting. I loved that movie. This was just a hot mess. Come on David Gordon Green! You are better then this!!!"

• Melvin W

  
  Gangster: You got some big ass balls, man. Noah: Can't find underwear. Balls don't fit. "Need a Sitter?" Well a good movie The Sitter is not. It's a ridiculously wacky, over the top, raunchy comedy that doesn't create as many laughs as it needs to. But… More
  Gangster: You got some big ass balls, man. Noah: Can't find underwear. Balls don't fit. "Need a Sitter?" Well a good movie The Sitter is not. It's a ridiculously wacky, over the top, raunchy comedy that doesn't create as many laughs as it needs to. But I still enjoyed it enough. It's ultrashort and doesn't overstay the little welcome it has. While the extent to which I liked it isn't incredibly high, I still seem to be in the minority of people who actually found any enjoyment from it.  The Sitter follows a crazy night when Noah agrees to babysit for three kids so his mother can go out and meet a new guy. The kids he is watching are pretty crazy. One has anxiety issues, one believes she's going to be a celebrity and is already acting like one, and the other loves blowing shit up. When Noah's "girlfriend" calls and tells him she wants to have sex with him, but he needs to pick up some blow on the way over, he drops everything and rushes around trying to get laid. He gets himself and the three children into a weird and dangerous situation with one of the silliest drug dealers I've ever seen played by Sam Rockwell in his weirdest role. I'm a fan of David Gordon Green. I loved his Indie debut George Washington which has no similarities at all to the films he has been making lately . I loved Pineapple Express and I liked Your Highness much more than everyone else. The Sitter is definitely a step down for him, but I still don't think it's terrible. He has an eye for funny, if unoriginal, situations, and he always gets the most from his cast. I'm also a huge Jonah Hill fan and his performance in The Sitter, while not close to his funniest, is still pretty damn funny. This isn't the next great comedy or anything like that. In ten years, no one will remember it. But it still has some appeal to it. Just don't expect a great film, but give it a try. Even if you don't like it, you're only going to have to invest an hour and fifteen minutes. 

• Manu G

  
  Need a Sitter? Not that bad. It was entertaining, that's all it was. I'll probably never watch it again but it was funny at times with some crazy stuff. A college dropout becomes a babysitter to make some quick cash, and takes his three young charges on an epic urban… More
  Need a Sitter? Not that bad. It was entertaining, that's all it was. I'll probably never watch it again but it was funny at times with some crazy stuff. A college dropout becomes a babysitter to make some quick cash, and takes his three young charges on an epic urban adventure in this comedy from director David Gordon Green (George Washington, Pineapple Express). Noah (Jonah Hill) isn't a babysitter, but he'll do just about anything for a little extra cash in his wallet. Shortly after he's hired to look after three young children, though, Noah gets a call from his girlfriend promising sex in exchange for drugs. Desperate and horny, the irresponsible sitter packs his unsuspecting wards into the car and heads for the seedy part of town. Before Noah can think twice the whole night has gone to hell, and he's on the run from a pair of murderous drug dealers (Sam Rockwell and J.B. Smoove) with no qualms about shooting at small targets. Ari Graynor, Max Records, and Method Man co-star.

• Mike S

  
  What would you do, if you were charged with babysitting three really weird and obnoxious kids? Well, you should probably refrain from going the Jonah Hill route - as in taking them on a nightly car trip to get some blow for your girlfriend. I'm not gonna spoil too much here, but… More
  What would you do, if you were charged with babysitting three really weird and obnoxious kids? Well, you should probably refrain from going the Jonah Hill route - as in taking them on a nightly car trip to get some blow for your girlfriend. I'm not gonna spoil too much here, but let's just say that all hell breaks loose, as the pandemonious circumstances take one bad turn after another. Very random and over-the-top, there's not much of a plot to speak of, but it didn't really bother me that much as I had a good time throughout. Kind of like a spin-off with Hill's character in "Superbad", and almost as funny. It may be short of a McLovin to propel it into comedy greatness, but it does have quite the assembly of fun and eccentric characters. Funniest of all though are definitely the kids, with a really cute and talented performance from the endearing Landry Bender, whom I suspect we'll being seeing a lot more from in the near future. It was also a great plus with Sam Rockwell in the cast, who here plays a gangster boss, that Jonah and the kids comes in accidental conflict with. An underrated comedy romp, that despite some hit-and-miss jokes, had me significantly more entertained than I thought I would be.

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"Need a Sitter?"</i> A comedy about a college student on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him. <center><font size=+2 face="Century… More
  <i>"Need a Sitter?"</i> A comedy about a college student on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him. <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> Modern update of the 80's teen classic Adventures in Babysitting. This one is actually R rated and a little cruder and more vulgar with David Gordon Green (director of Pineapple Express and Your Highness) directing. We don't get a hot young female star in this one (like the original's youth fantasy girl Elizabeth Shue) but we do get Jonah Hill in a leading man role and he's just as capable and funny as ever. It was written by first time writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka and the overall result is pretty impressive, all things considering, but will never be as fondly remembered as the Elizabeth Shue classic. Hill plays Noah Griffith, a suspended college student who lives with his mom (Jessica Hecht). As a favor to his single mother he agrees to take a babysitting job from his mother's friend Mrs. Pedulla (Erin Daniels). He of course finds himself in over his head with Pedulla's three troublesome kids and things get further complicated when Noah gets a call from his would-be girlfriend (Ari Graynor) wanting him to bring her drugs at a party. Hoping to get laid as a result Noah agrees to do her bidding, once again, and takes the kids with him to get drugs, which of course turns into more trouble from there on out. The movie is very funny at times and surprisingly crude for a teen comedy. Green's directing is once again impressive and Hill and the other cast members are all more than adequate but the movie is also filled with cheesy uplifting drama (like every teen classic should be). The movie works for the most part and is a great throwback to the 80's classics it emulates. As far as babysitting adventures go we could have done a lot worse.

• Pedro H

  
  </i> worst. babysitter. ever</i> <b>Occasionally funny</b> I won't deny that I had a couple of laughs over this film, and I was constantly smiling. Although the plot is non-existent its a good film with a couple of good laughs and overall a… More
  </i> worst. babysitter. ever</i> <b>Occasionally funny</b> I won't deny that I had a couple of laughs over this film, and I was constantly smiling. Although the plot is non-existent its a good film with a couple of good laughs and overall a <b>really good time.</b> Noah (Hill) is a nothing-in-life college student who decides to repay his mom a favor a babysits for her to go out for one night. He babysits a group of strange kids are their night goes beyond wild. First of all believe it or not the cast for this film is awesome. There is Jonah Hill who is always funny at what he does but here he really hits the note. Then there is Max Records who already nailed it in 'Where The Wild Things Are' and now does it again. There is also Sam Rockwell and the other kid actors that just contribute to this awesome funny little cast. The story is fun and I constantly had a smile on my face, and although the plot doesn't have much to offer that really isn't a big deal because the true meaning of this movie is to watch Noah getting into some crazy stuff with these kids. I laughed a lot and had an awesome time watching this film. The soundtrack is also really good, so overall a fun and worth watching film for those who just wanna have fun. <u>Karl:</u> <i>"Can't buy underwear, balls don't fit."</i>

• Brad W

  
  The Sitter is a movie that I thought might be decent at first, but as I watched the movie I realized I have just spent my money on a waste of time and a movie that has brought Jonah Hill's career backwards, hopefully he will be remembered for films like Superbad and Moneyball and… More
  The Sitter is a movie that I thought might be decent at first, but as I watched the movie I realized I have just spent my money on a waste of time and a movie that has brought Jonah Hill's career backwards, hopefully he will be remembered for films like Superbad and Moneyball and not this crap. The story follows Noah (Jonah Hill) who is hired to babysit three very weird children who have their own annoying or creepy traits, but soon he is invited to have sex with his girlfriend if he can get some drugs, but he takes the kids and soon begins a night of living hell that involves drugs, sex, criminals, and explosions that Noah will never forget. The plot was pretty boring and twisted if you ask me, the story really goes nowhere for 80 minutes and I was not really expecting much but even worse than the story was the characters, every single one just seems to be a complete and unlikeable asshole that I could not like no matter what, but overall it was just a bad story. The cast consists of many unknown actors and Jonah Hill and as you could tell from my reviews so far I did not enjoy their acting, mainly because I do not think they were really trying hard or they just knew from the script that the film would be a fop and most of them just said "what the hell, at least we're getting paid." Jonah Hill is not funny or original in his role, he plays every role he has done in almost every single comedy he has been in his career, nothing new and nothing he did was great, I will try to forget this mess up and remember him for his role in Moneyball for 2011. The comedy is of the film is just simply not good, even the young Mexican child just pissed me off and was not funny like at all and they just simply hoped ANOTHER film like this would be funny, and it truly was just not a funny movie and disappointed me on almost every level of comedy, it was not the worst comedy of the year however, that goes to Jack and Jill I think. The Sitter is an unoriginal, badly acted, and bad plotted story that almost completely failed, the only reason thing the film got right was that I want to give it credit that it did not lie what it was trying to be, it did not stray from being a really f#cked up babysitter movie no matter how bad it was, many movies with this kind of story stray from the main plot but this film kept to just being what it was, but other than that it was a failure of a film and I do not recommend it to anyone who wants a good comedy.

• Everett J

  
  2011 is really the year of the R-rated comedy. "Horrible Bosses", "Bridesmaids", "Change Up", and "Bad Teacher" were all great, and now "The Sitter" has joined the club. This movie is all Jonah Hill and three crazy little kids.… More
  2011 is really the year of the R-rated comedy. "Horrible Bosses", "Bridesmaids", "Change Up", and "Bad Teacher" were all great, and now "The Sitter" has joined the club. This movie is all Jonah Hill and three crazy little kids. It's pretty much an updated, R rated "Adventures in Babysitting". Hell, they should have called it that. Drugs, prostitutes, exploding toilets, a lot goes wrong when you watch kids. Especially when one wants to be a socialite, one is manic depressive, and one likes to blow stuff up. Hill is very funny and has several great one liners. The kids are all fantastic and were casted perfectly. There's lots of profanity and other things that kids really shouldn't have any part of. But, it's all in good fun, and make for a hilarious movie. It runs at around 80 minutes, which is just about perfect. Any longer and I think the movie would have out ran it's welcome. In need of a laugh, then give it a watch.

• Liam G

  
  With incredibly unlikeable characters and a predictable story, ''The Sitter'' is messy, gross, formulaic, lazy and mean-spirited.

• Michael S

  
  After two successful forays in (semi) mainstream comedy, ex-indie auteur David Gordon Green has missed the mark with "The Sitter," an unfortunately unfunny comedy made more tedious thanks to it's tired premise and a wealth of uninspired scenes that just fall limp. The… More
  After two successful forays in (semi) mainstream comedy, ex-indie auteur David Gordon Green has missed the mark with "The Sitter," an unfortunately unfunny comedy made more tedious thanks to it's tired premise and a wealth of uninspired scenes that just fall limp. The almost always likable Jonah Hill doesn't have a good character to work with here, and some of the most off-putting child characters committed to film in some time do not help matters. The potential for a good comedy is in the mix somewhere but is never realized due to poor writing and decision making. At around 80 minutes, "The Sitter" never gets the chance to test your patience (it comes and goes faster than just about any film this year). I guess that's a positive, but I can't think of weaker praise for a movie from a major directing talent. I didn't hate "The Sitter." It had it's share of laughs and its fast pacing didn't have me squirming in my seat. But so what? It never tries to elevate itself beyond it's lazy concept, and in turn comes off as a lazy film: one I doubt many people are going to end up liking all that much.

• Markus R

  
  "The Sitter" is "Adventures in Babysitting" with F-bombs, forced drug humor and middle school sex jokes. Directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Your Highness), a man who is astonishingly coming out with his second most unfunny comedy this year, and… More
  "The Sitter" is "Adventures in Babysitting" with F-bombs, forced drug humor and middle school sex jokes. Directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Your Highness), a man who is astonishingly coming out with his second most unfunny comedy this year, and starring Jonah Hill who is unfortunately in Green's second most unfunny comedy of the year . The writers of this fiasco of a script are newcomers Brain Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, who seemed only to have pieced together scripts from multiple 1980's B-movie style teen flicks and added in some dialogue, which consists of crude jokes from their failed stand-up careers. The end result is that "The Sitter" may contain one or two funny jokes, but they are buried within a dung-heap of a script. Side Note: This movie contains an all too unfortunate supporting performance from the great Sam Rockwell (Moon) that I do not wish to write about, for fear of becoming too angry to continue with my review. "The Sitter" was more than likely an attempt by Hollywood to see how well Jonah Hill (Superbad) did as a leading comedic actor, and not just the fat sidekick character. And while his performance is what it is, the real flaw here is not with Hill's performance, but with the storyline (or lack of). Let me paint a picture. There is no storyline!!! In maybe the most idiotic plot since "Cowboys & Aliens", Hill plays random loser/nice-guy, with zero potential as a human being, Noah Griffith. Noah has a girlfriend that treats him like garbage. His mom asks him to take a job as a babysitter, babysitting a motley crew of the most one dimensional children put on the big screen since 2010's "Grown-Ups. He takes it for seemingly no reason. Noah makes some inexplicably horrid choices, again for seemingly no reason, which result in some of the cheapest slap-spick comedic scenarios of the year and at the end of the night he learns a lesson, but not really. That's it. No action in the movie has any justification behind it. This movie simply powers forward through a rolodex of shrug inducing jokes, totally disregarding the fact that the audience probably isn't laughing. The storyline has absolutely no direction. As Noah takes the children on a drug run (because the script deems it so) the audience is bombarded with cocaine in the face jokes, followed by an ill-conceived sentimental moment, followed by a man's groin being set on fire, and then back to the grossly overplayed sentimentality. It just doesn't flow at all. This script is so bad, that there was even a point in the middle of this movie where Noah has an epiphany that acknowledges (out loud) his girlfriends true feeling towards him, which should have altogether halted his quest to see his girlfriend (or the entire point of the film) and ended the movie. BUT NO! The plot moves forward despite this game changing revelation; and why? Conceivably, because Green, as a director, didn't catch or wish to acknowledge this egregious plot-hole in the script. So, the audience must sit through the final forty-five minutes of "The Sitter", as if that scene never happened. With a script as half-assed as this seemed to be, one would assume that the characters throughout are bound to be just as problematic. And that brings me to the children. The children here are so underdeveloped that they aren't even people, they are simply emotions used to move the razor-thin plot along. A bratty little girl who uses foul language (yeah, that would have been funnier if I were seven), a super emotional pre-teen boy whose storyline attempts to become sentimental, but verges on borderline homophobic, and a stereotypical Latin kid who thinks he's Scarface, does not a film make! And as for those sentimental moments, they are truly the most cringe inducing aspect here. I'm sorry, but any movie that would have Jonah Hill giving out sappy life lessons is doomed for failure. But again, Hill wasn't the worst part of the film. The fact is, without Hill's likeability as a lead actor, "The Sitter" would have been unwatchable. Final Thought: In the last few years Green seems to have developed a compulsion to only make terribly unfunny and bland comedies, which center around pot-heads. But the biggest punch-line of these films are how Green holds actual directors credits, yet there seems to be no direction to any of his movies. It is simply a shame that Hill chose this film to show that he could carry a lead role in a comedic film. And while he does carry this movie, with the help of Green and two hack writers, there isn't much of a movie to carry. In the end, "The Sitter" is the film equivalent of buyer's remorse, whereas it looked incredibly funny from the trailer, but is just the opposite once you find yourself sitting in a rather silent and rather packed theater for an unusually lengthy 81 minutes, wishing you could ask for a refund. Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland Please visit my page on Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/x-52464-San-Jose-Indie-Movie-Examiner and leave any comments you have about this or any review. The more hits I get the better. Thank you.

• Jason C

  
  "The Sitter" just kind of exists. The premise of the movie has been done to death, so it ends up being fairly predictable. The writing does play up to Jonah Hill's strengths as a comedian, so it's not a total wash. I guess it fits the old version of Jonah Hill.… More
  "The Sitter" just kind of exists. The premise of the movie has been done to death, so it ends up being fairly predictable. The writing does play up to Jonah Hill's strengths as a comedian, so it's not a total wash. I guess it fits the old version of Jonah Hill. The jury's still out on whether or not the new, creepy, slimmed, down version of Hill will still be funny. Ultimately, this movie is good for a few laughs. You could do a whole lot worse, but you could do a whole lot better too.

• Tyler C

  
  Jonah Hill gives it his best, but it's not enough to save this Adventures In Babysitting knock-off from being nothing better than a Sunday rental at best.

• Shawn M

  
  bad reviews on tomatoes usually delays me from wanting to see a movie, but god damn I curse some of you sometimes, this movie was not worth my delay on it, maybe its just my type of humour, but this film owned. something like ARE WE THERE YET / ARE WE DONE YET, but a decent twist of… More
  bad reviews on tomatoes usually delays me from wanting to see a movie, but god damn I curse some of you sometimes, this movie was not worth my delay on it, maybe its just my type of humour, but this film owned. something like ARE WE THERE YET / ARE WE DONE YET, but a decent twist of originality.

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