The Nanny Diaries (film)
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| The Nanny Diaries | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film. |
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| Directed by | Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini |
| Produced by | Richard N. Gladstein |
| Written by | Shari Springer Berman (screenplay) Robert Pulcini (screenplay) |
| Starring | Scarlett Johansson Chris Evans Alicia Keys Laura Linney Paul Giamatti Judith Roberts |
| Music by | Mark Suozzo |
| Editing by | Robert Pulcini |
| Distributed by | The Weinstein Company/MGM (USA) Paramount Pictures (UK) |
| Release date(s) | August 24, 2007 (USA) |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Nanny Diaries is a 2007 comedy-drama film, based on the novel The Nanny Diaries, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, it stars Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney; and was produced by Richard N. Gladstein.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
Annie differs greatly from Nanny, as the book's heroine is known. The film's Annie is the working-class daughter of a single mother who works as a nurse in New Jersey. She takes the job Mrs. X offers her despite no previous experience and moves in with the Xes, keeping the true nature of her work secret from her mother until Grayer's illness makes her come clean.
In the novel, Nanny is a senior at New York University, majoring in child development with the hope of going into education. She has her own apartment until she moves out late in the story due to conflicts with her roommate. She never sleeps in the Xes' residence until the trip to Nantucket. Her duties also go beyond simply taking care of Grayer to serving as Mrs. X's concierge, making dinner reservations and obtaining tablecloths for the Xes' parties. She is very experienced at her job, having worked as a nanny and babysitter since the age of 13. Her family lives in the city and is rather affluent — she is conversant with designer labels and luxury items, popular bars, speaks French well enough to converse in it with Grayer's Alliance Française teacher and graduated from Chapin, a distinguished Manhattan girls' school. Her father teaches at Collegiate, an elite boys' school, her mother is a lawyer and her grandmother also is portrayed as wealthy enough to have her makeup done at Elizabeth Arden and connected enough to help Nanny arrange a dinner reservation at Lutèce. As a result Nanny herself is very urban and sophisticated, with a cynical sense of humor about the social milieu she works in and its inhabitants, in contrast to Annie, who has no experience of it.
There are some changes to other characters as well. Harvard Hottie's family background is never discussed in the novel. Mrs. X, whose black hair is referred to regularly in the novel, is played by the blonde Laura Linney. The Xes also have a maid in the book named Connie, whom Mrs. X fires. Likewise, the Lynette character was created for the film.
[edit] Plot
The novel begins in September, at the start of the academic year, and runs to Nanny's graduation and the Xes' vacation to Nantucket in late June. The film compresses all the events of the plot into a summer, changing some events so that the book's Halloween party takes place on the Fourth of July instead, and the Xes' broken date comes on their anniversary rather than Valentine's Day.
Many of the events in the film also occur in the novel, but not always in the same order. The conflict-resolution seminar was written for the film. Conversely the book had scenes later on where Mr. X's girlfriend ("Ms. Chicago") comes to sleep in the Xes' apartment while the family was on vacation, and Nanny and Connie were expected to help cover her presence up. Nanny inadvertently misplaced $800 of Ms. Chicago's money, making their telephone argument longer and more personally confrontational.
The end of the novel leaves more issues unresolved. Nanny is fired at night, and upon her return to the apartment discovers documentary evidence Mrs. X had been planning to fire her for several weeks. Mr. X does not come onto Nanny. Mrs. X's pregnancy is not revealed as a ruse, and may be genuine. She does not leave her husband, and the fate of the marriage is unknown. The angry speech Annie makes to the nannycam is the speech Nanny gives but then erases in favor of a gentler speech urging the Xes to appreciate Grayer before it becomes too late.
The novel ends with Nanny in the park the morning after her dismissal, throwing the cell phone the Xes gave her into the reservoir while she plays with the puppy. The fate of her relationship with Harvard Hottie is also unknown.
[edit] Cast
- Scarlett Johansson as Annie Braddock
- Chris Evans as Hayden "Harvard Hottie"
- Laura Linney as Mrs. Alexandra X
- Paul Giamatti as Mr. Stan X
- Nicholas Art as Grayer Addison X
- Donna Murphy as Judy Braddock
- Alicia Keys as Lynette
- Nina Garbiras as Miss Chicago
- Brande Roderick as Tanya
- Heather Simms as Murnel
- Julie White as Jane Gould
- Judith Roberts as Milicent
[edit] Rating
This film is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for language.
[edit] Reception
As of September 1, 2007, the film had an average score of 46 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 33 reviews.[1] On Rotten Tomatoes, 30 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 93 reviews.[2]
The film opened at #6 at the U.S. box office and earned $7.4 million in 2,629 theaters in its opening weekend. As of November 23, 2007, the film has grossed $25,918,399 domestically and $9,451,716 overseas for a total worldwide gross of $35,370,115 against a $20 million budget.[3] By the reviews of the SF Gate, it is the 6th worst movie of 2007. [1]
[edit] Trivia
Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson were in the same movie before, in The Perfect Score in 2004.
As children, Scarlett Johansson and Alicia Keys appeared in very small roles in Mandy Moore's music video for Candy (Mandy Moore song). They were in different scenes, though.
Laura Linney[4] and Paul Giamatti also star together as a married couple in the HBO movie John Adams.
Scarlett Johansson was in Bob Dylan's music video "When The Deal Goes Down" and Alicia Keys is referenced in Bob Dylan's "Thunder On The Mountain" Both from his #1 album Modern Times
When Scarlett Johansson's character, Annie, is thinking of a nickname for Grayer, she mentions SpongeBob. She voiced Mindy in the SpongeBobSquarePants Movie.
[edit] References
- ^ Nanny Diaries, The (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-09-01
- ^ The Nanny Diaries - Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-09-01
- ^ The Nanny Diaries (2007) - Weekend Box Office. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-09-01
- ^ [Internet Movie Database]
