24th July, 2008 Login • Register
Search This Site
The Nanny Diaries (2007) DVD Review
The Nanny Diaries (2007) DVD Credits:
The Nanny Diaries (2007) Directed by:
Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
The Nanny Diaries (2007) Written by:
Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
The Nanny Diaries (2007) Cast:
Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, Donna Murphy, Alicia Keys, Chris Evans
The Nanny Diaries (2007) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
The Nanny Diaries (2007) DVD Release Date:
4th December 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD
The Nanny Diaries (2007) Synopsis:

Based on the best-selling novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus this is the story of nine frantic months in the life of a young woman impulsively hired to care for the neglected 4-year-old son of a pampered wife and her near-absentee husband, whose marriage begins to disintegrate during the period. The young nanny is aptly named Nan and will be the role Scarlett will be in charge or occupying as she juggles the household's marital woes, her classes, a romance and a spoiled kid.

The Nanny Diaries (2007) DVD Review:

It is no secret by now that Hollywood has made it a habit of following trends. Once a formula works once there is no doubt that many replicas will soon follow, and often in a very transparent attempt to cash in on the financial coattails of a financially successful predecessor. These films are far less interesting than the films which are able to change the structure in such a way that audience is hardly aware they are being fed the same meal, somewhat like the lunch lady that turns Tuesday’s meatloaf into Thursday’s spaghetti sauce.

Based on the scathing best-selling book written by nannies as a wake-up call to the parents they worked for, The Nanny Diaries was turned into a narrative by making broad judgments with characters that represent a generic kind of parent in the upper east side of New York. Scarlett Johansson is Annie, a young college graduate with a name similar enough to nanny for an oblivious wealthy mother (Laura Linney) to make the mistake. Having no idea what to do with her life, Annie decides to go along with the mistake and spend some time working as a nanny, unable to anticipate how difficult it would be or how much she would end up connecting to the child. She also doesn’t anticipate how absent the father (Paul Giamatti) will be.

Along with an absurd lifestyle compared to what she is accustomed to, Annie is also forced to follow a large number of rules, including a rule against dating. This is why her personal life begins to suffer when she meets a handsome young man (Chris Evans) in the apartment building she works in. Soon Annie learns to start thinking for herself and deciding when to break the rules.

At first glance The Nanny Diaries may look to be a replica of Raising Helen, which seemed to be a replica of Uptown Girls, but there is a far more recent film hidden in the themes of the latest young-independent-woman films. Scarlett Johansson stars as the nanny with a job that takes up all of her time, interferes with her personal life, and comes with a boss from hell, and although her job has no similarities to working in fashion, the parallels in The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada allow the audience to anticipate every twist before it comes. Fortunately the film is enjoyable enough to make the predictability forgivable.

The special features include a featurette with the nannies and authors of the best-selling book, and although the featurette is essentially just an interview with these two women inter-cut with footage from the film. The nannies talk about their experience writing the book and working as nannies extensively. The blooper reel is apparently sponsored by L’Oreal, and has just as much footage of the production and Johansson just making faces at the camera in-between takes as any actual bloopers. There is also a making-of featurette and the theatrical trailer.



Our Rating: Extras Rating: User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD

The Nanny Diaries (2007) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

Content Management System provided by P J Thomson - Freelance Web Design - PHP/MySQL Development