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John Leguizamo, Katherine Waterston, Cynthia Nixon, Andy Comeau, Denis O'Hare ... see more see more... , Lauren Birkell , Louisa Krause , Halley Wegryn Gross , Jason Dubin , Ethan Phillips , Spencer Treat Clark , Paul Borghese

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 Waters... read more read more...ton) 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

Flixster Users

34% liked it

2,852 ratings

Critics

33% liked it

27 critics

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: David Ross

Release Date: May 9, 2008

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DVD Release Date: September 16, 2008

Stats: 426 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (426)

  • bbcfloridabound
    May 30, 2011
    bbcfloridabound
    Cute girls but Very disappointing. 3 stars
  • helpahorse
    May 16, 2011
    helpahorse
    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 char... read moreacter 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.
  • Deano78
    October 16, 2010
    Deano78
    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.
  • Camus123
    June 1, 2009
    Camus123
    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.
    H... read moreere 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.
  • bhobbs1985
    April 5, 2009
    bhobbs1985
    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... read more 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....
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    March 11, 2009
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "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 ... read moremovie 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.
  • xas5
    October 24, 2011
    xas5
    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... read more 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.
  • lovablemisanthrope
    August 26, 2010
    lovablemisanthrope
    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.
  • DrLappos
    June 14, 2010
    DrLappos
    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 be... read moreen 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.....
  • RemiLogan
    March 15, 2010
    RemiLogan
    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 ma... read morede 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 =/

View All The Babysitters Reviews

Critic Reviews

Ann Hornaday
May 16, 2008
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. Full Review

Stephen Holden
May 9, 2008
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. Full Review

Susan Walker
May 9, 2008
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. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
May 9, 2008
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

Although the film is pitched as dark comedy, there's nothing very funny about the sexualization of teenagers. Full Review

Kyle Smith
May 9, 2008
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. Full Review

Joe Neumaier
May 9, 2008
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. Full Review

Mark Olsen
May 9, 2008
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

The film remains engaging in no small part because of the beguiling and enigmatic performance of [Katherine] Waterston, daughter of Law & Order star Sam Waterston. Full Review

Kamal Al-Solaylee
May 9, 2008
Kamal Al-Solaylee, Globe and Mail

Despite the racy content and the alarmist 18A classification, The Babysitters is a remarkably restrained and decent film. It's polished, smoothly edited and shot with simple elegance. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
May 7, 2008
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The premise is out of '70s porn, and so is the overbroad satire and almost total lack of conviction. Full Review

Ed Gonzalez
May 7, 2008
Ed Gonzalez, Village Voice

Woefully reductive and painful. Full Review

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The Babysitters Trivia

  • One one this movie's taglines is: No rules. No curfews. No nagging. No pulse.  Answer »
  • What is the name of the film that stars Christina Applegate in which she has to look after her siblings and provide for them while their mum is away on holiday?  Answer »
  • In the movie "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" their was an error in one of the seance. Which one of the following options is a true mistake in the movie.  Answer »
  • After the shotgun blast, Keith Coogan says, "The dishes are done, man." in what 1991 movie?  Answer »
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