8/28/14

The Nanny Diaries

This is cleverly presented as an anthropologist's report on the strange tribe of people who inhabit New York City's Upper East Side. To preserve professional anonymity, we know the people only as "X." They are described by a recent college graduate, whose mother sacrificed to make her degree possible, after she fails at her very first job. In order to make ends meet, when a misunderstanding in Central Park causes a desperate matron to think she is a nanny, she decides to take a chance and be one for a year...much to her best friend's dismay.

Directed by real-life husband and wife Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, this 2007 PG-13 outing boasts attractive people in legendary up-scale settings and see the reality behind the doormen and limos.

They are:
  • Scarlett Johansson ("Her") is Annie the nanny, eager to do a good job, but horrified by what she learns about the "natives" and their offspring. As her disenchantment grows, she tells herself that cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead didn't abandon her studies every time she contracted malaria.
  • Laura Linney ("The Big C") is Mrs. X, a brittle, anxious wife and mother, striving to get her toddler enrolled in an exclusive day care while preserving her marriage to a phenomenally successful businessman.
  • Paul Giamatti ("The Amazing Spider-Man 2") is Mr. X, an arm's-length husband and father. He has "merger deals" in Chicago which require his presence, even though his little boy is starved for his love and attention.
  • Chris Evans ("The Avengers") is Harvard Hottie (so-named by our dazzled anthropologist to preserve his anonymity) who first sees her with her peddle-pushers at half mast as she tries in vain to control her defiant little charge.
  • Nicholas Art ("Taking Chance") is Grayer, the lonesome little boy who becomes attached to his nanny for lack of anyone else.
  • Donna Murphy (Lots of TV) is Annie's mother Judy. Lucky for everyone involved, she is a capable and willing nurse!
There are many survival techniques used by the natives: the Nanny Cam in a teddy bear being one of them; arrogance and presumption being two more. Annie learned far more than she expected in this little field trip!
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Here is a preview:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1358364953
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