Cinema Saturday

The Sitter
Jonah Hill, Sam Rockwell
20th Century Fox
March 20, 2012
R; 81 minutes
IMDb/Amazon /Amazon Instant Video

Out of college - not voluntarily and not due to graduation - Noah Griffith is spending his time at home, in his mom's house, pretty much doing nothing. Sitting back and watching TV is enough for him - with the occasional trip out to his 'girlfriend's' house.

When his mom's night out is threatened after her friend's babysitter cancels, Noah hates to see her disappointed, but kids are not his thing. Still, a few hours with a couple of kids can't be worse than his mom not having the chance to meet a great guy . . . can it?

Neither Noah nor the kids expect the wild night they're about to have.


Noah (Jonah Hill) has a 'girlfriend' and that term should be used loosely, Marissa (Ari Graynor) whose call with the promise of sex . . .  if you know, Noah does some things besides drive downtown (with the kids she doesn't know he's babysitting) set the whole night into motion. Of course, it's not just what she says that makes everything happen, or Noah's attempts, it's what she asks, how he goes about it, where he has to go, what happens along the way, and how everything plays out.  Which is all incredibly funny.

I wanted to see this movie because it looked funny - raunchy and crazy, yet but funny. What I didn't know was that it would have some depth if not (and don't fault it for this) heart, too.

The kids are rather archetypal, but not the kind that's usually seen portrayed. The little girl, Blithe (Landry Bender) wants to be a celebutante, wears a ton of makeup and is waayyy too into songs with lyrics inappropriate for someone her age (maybe anyone's age). There are a lot of girls (really young ones) who are into looking older, wearing makeup, etc right now. Her character and the reaction to her fit.

It's not a deep, dramatic movie so there's not big, epic scenes of emotion, but I thought the little bits (mostly wit the kids) that were put in there were nice and still fit within  the story.

Overall, it's a very funny movie - even more so than I expected - there's enough just random stuff in it to keep it from being predictable even if all of it isn't the most original story line ever. It's one I'll definitely watch again.



(My review is from the rated DVD version)


Thank you to Fox & Think Jam for my copy for review.