Reviewed by Cassam Looch
Stars Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Donna Murphy,
Alicia Keys, Chris Evans, Georgina Chapman,
Nicolas Art, Paul Giamatti
UK certification 12A | UK RRP £15.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 106 minutes
Written & directed by
Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Scarlett Johansson is a bona fide A-List star with many critics falling over themselves to lavish praise on her performances. That said, she doesn’t really have that many memorable films under her belt; her profile is far greater than her track record thus far. And although this film again proves she is likeable and engaging enough on screen, it is hardly going to set any box-office records.
Annie Braddock is fresh out of college and struggling to find out what she wants in life. After a series of less than successful job interviews she stumbles into the world of high-class babysitting. Eventually she makes home with the affluent ‘X’ family, and deals mainly with the frosty yet formidable matriarch of the family (Linney). Although she quickly bonds with her charge, she finds herself walking on eggshells when around the youngster’s mother and sleazy father (Giamatti). Annie soon has a choice to make, but things get even more complicated as she tries to hide her new career from her mother and falls for the charming boy next door...
There are moments in this film that are really clever and elevate it above the monotonous ‘Chic-lit’ trappings that are otherwise evident. The fast paced opening and neat visual touches are intermittently present but all too brief. The rest of the film relies on us feeling sorry for Annie while loathing Mrs X, something which is easy to do as Linney creates the sort of nightmarish monster that lurks in every family somewhere. If the film stuck to this relationship then we’d all be happy, but unfortunately an overcomplicated script decides that more characters are needed. So we soon get Evans as the too good to be true love interest and Keys as the wisecracking best friend. Above all it’s the introduction of Giamatti as the loathsome Mr X that really unbalances the film, and turns this into a predictable lightweight comedy drama.
All the performances are actually very good (bar the ever-gormless Evans) and the resolution isn’t all that bad, but the film as a whole could have been so much better. Keys has a bright cinematic future ahead of her (maybe she should avoid playing the sassy sidekick for a while though) and given the right material Johansson will continue to ‘wow’ audiences the world over ... but for now this film is worth catching for masterclass from Linney.
EXTRAS **½ You get 9 deleted scenes, a making of featurette (called Life At The Top As Seen From the Bottom), an interview with the authors of the book on which the film is based, and a blooper reel.