Review: Actresses help redeem mediocre 'Nanny Diaries'

Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Nicholas Reese Art, Paul Giamatti, Donna Murphy, Alicia Keys, Chris Evans

Rated: PG-13

“The Nanny Diaries” is drawing many comparisons to “The Devil Wears Prada.” There are similarities, but in many ways “The Nanny Diaries” is closer to – and a lesser film than – Rob Reiner’s classic “mockumentary,” “This Is Spinal Tap.”

I’m sure there are people who understand what the Upper Eastside Manhattan crowd of self-absorbed yuppies is really like, but the self-absorbed rock stars of “Spinal Tap,” I think, had a broader fan base. While Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus – the authors of the novel the film is based upon – seem to labor toward a portrayal of class warfare, the entire milieu may be lost on most middle-American viewers.

Mr. and Mrs. X, the employers portrayed in “The Nanny Diaries,” are certainly vacuous. But Annie, the “nanny” of the title, is also worlds away from anything most people –outside of those firmly entrenched in the “yuppiesphere” – will be able to fully embrace.

The setup and narrative approach of the film is that of an anthropological thesis with Annie as the writer, narrator and social conscious of the affair. That format could be engaging, but here it gets rather tedious.

The team of directors, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, did a great job in fashioning the almost unfilmable biopic of comic book author Harvey Pekar (“American Splendor”) and their hearts are clearly in the right place here. They miss their mark in many ways but manage to come up with two undeniable reasons to see this film with their choices of leading actresses.

Like “Prada,” this is a “chick flick,” and Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney are two of the finest actresses working today. Linney isn’t as well-known as her younger co-star but has been making movies since she was credited as “Young Teacher” in 1992’s “Lorenzo’s Oil.” Johansson, at 22, is already an “A-list” actress with an impressive résumé. She starred in Woody Allen’s best movie in a long time, “Match Point;” the art house favorite, “The Girl with the Pearl Earring;” and Sofia Coppola’s masterpiece, “Lost in Translation.” Clearly, she is more than just another pretty face.

Johansson plays Annie, a young college student with a mother who desperately wants her to get a job in the financial district and drop her whole anthropology thing.

Annie meets Mrs. X, played by Linney, and her child, Grayer, in the park one day. The kid is nearly run over by a bicyclist, Annie saves him and when she introduces herself, Mrs. X thinks she says, “I’m a nanny.” Mrs. X and her bevy of too-rich friends aren’t very good at listening to the lower classes. Their husbands, typified by Paul Giamatti as Mr. X, are even worse: They barely listen to anyone, least of all their wives.

Annie decides a nanny job, besides being somewhat lucrative, will be a good experiment. She of course can’t tell her mother that she’s decided to take a job as a domestic in a household of neurotic rich snobs.

“The Nanny Diaries” stresses the point that the children in this world are viewed mostly as “accessories.” Mrs. X spends more time planning her children’s charity events than she does with her own kid.

At first, young Grayer predictably doesn’t warm up to Annie. He wants his former nanny back. Mrs. X had to let her go for having a date with a man.

But soon he and Annie (who is never referred to by her name, all of the Xs call her Nanny) become friends. It would be hard not to warm up to the only (barely) adult who ever has time for you.

Eventually, Annie commits a cardinal sin. She becomes attracted to the guy who lives upstairs from the Xs, whom she refers to as “Harvard Hottie.” At first she refuses to go out with him, as she knows the fate of the last nanny. But he eventually wins her over. This complicates her life somewhat, as she must keep the relationship a secret from Mrs. X.

Just as Grayer warmed to his new nanny, Annie is not entirely unsympathetic to Mrs. X.

It’s entirely apparent to her that the man is cheating on his wife, and she believes Mrs. X knows as much in her heart of hearts. The woman continually ignores the signs and, even after Mr. X misses a romantic anniversary, she cuts him way too much slack.

Mr. X tries to make it up to the family by taking them to their beach house in Nantucket for a week. It’s only after getting there that he tells the Mrs. he can only stay a couple of days. He also makes a pass at Nanny.

There aren’t many surprises in the film, and I must admit I haven’t read the novel so I don’t know how true the team of directors remained to the source material. I’ll give “The Nanny Diaries” a rather lukewarm recommendation, simply on the strength of Linney and Johansson as actresses.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]