CINEMA: The Nanny Diaries

This new Scarlett Johansson vehicle is an adaptation of the successful novel of the same name concerning the travails of a nanny working for a wealthy though woefully dysfunctional Upper East Side household in Manhattan. Annie (Johansson) is from a contrastingly humble background in Jersey and struggling to hide the fact that she has gone into a lowly service job from her mother, who has been misled to believe that Annie has moved to the city to become a high flyer in finance. Romance is provided by way of the “Harvard Hottie” (Fantastic Four’s Chris Evans) who lives in the same apartment block, and with whom she begins an initially uneasy friendship over a series of shared elevator rides.The real grist of the story, however, is her treatment at the hands of the M and Mrs “X” for whom she works, and the strong bond she forms with her charge, their neglected five-year-old son, Grayer. That Mrs X (The Squid and the Whale’s Laura Linney) is teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown is a fact obvious to everyone apart from herself. Also obvious is that the blame lays firmly at the feet of Mr X, a sleazy, loathsome, self-serving pig rendered with hilarious panache by Paul Giamatti, who – handed a superb grotesque to play with by the script – gleefully runs away with entire film. Annie is left literally holding the baby (or toddler at least) while their marriage crumbles about her and she is increasingly scapegoated for Mr X’s feckless adultery.

Although The Void is probably not part of The Nanny Diaries’ target demographic, the relative sophistication of the writing and direction make it a more than passable experience for those of you who normally wouldn’t be coaxed into the cinema by something marketed as the celluloid equivalent of chick-lit. Writer and director Shari Springer Berman’s previous film was 2003′s American Splendor (also starring Giamatti) and if you’ve seen that, you’d be right to expect more than your common or garden romcom mush from her follow up. Not to say it hasn’t got its formulaic elements – and it’s soppy as all hell – but it at least shies firmly away from the more obvious clichés of the genre, and has an adventurous visual flair to boot.

By the end of The Nanny Diaries all we seem to have learnt is that, no, money doesn’t lead to happiness, but being nicer to each other and spending more time with your family does. It’s hardly a revelatory conclusion, but the experience of reaching it is not without its rewards. Jim Machin

You may also like:

• DVD: The Zombie Diaries