A So-So SITTER
Movie Review by Kelly Laymon

Jonah Hill’s Noah is not THE SITTER (2011). The real babysitter has canceled, and his mother has plans for the night with the parents of the three children in question, who are going to introduce her to a blind date at a dinner party. If Noah doesn’t step up and fill in, his mother will be denied a night out and a chance at love.

We soon learn that the three kids he’s in charge of are your typical annoying and overly precious little stereotypes. There’s the princess-y girl who seems like a future Snooki-in-training, the effeminate and medicated boy who comes out, and an adopted Latino boy who seems like maybe he’s watched SCARFACE (1983) a few times too many.

The evening begins to veer off course when Noah’s bitchy girlfriend calls him and puts sex on the table. Obviously, from there, wackiness ensues and lessons are learned. The over-the-top obstacles (drug deals, gangsters, assorted criminal activities, etc.) they encounter are more than a little un-realistic. The humor comes more from the simple throwaway lines than the big gags.

This is the second time this year that we’ve seen a typical family film plot remade for an adult audience. At the end of this past summer, we had THE CHANGE-UP (2011), which was an adult spin on FREAKY FRIDAY (1976 & 2003) and other body-switch family fare. Now we have this spin on films like ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (1987).

I tend to find everything that comes out of Jonah Hill’s mouth potentially funny. He’s been particularly good in recent films like GET HIM TO THE GREEK (2010), FUNNY PEOPLE (2009), and CYRUS (2010). And his name is being used in the same sentence as the word “Oscar” for MONEYBALL (2011). There’s just something about his comedic delivery that usually entertains me. I even recently delayed my departure time from a hotel during a road trip so I could watch Hill sit in as guest host on LIVE! WITH KELLY! (syndicated), where he dropped the word “douche” before the ten minute mark. If you’re a Jonah Hill fan, you will be amused by him in THE SITTER. I also went into it with pretty low expectations, so that may have helped.

I’ll give this three knives. It’s not great, but it’s certainly better than a lot of other comedies you could watch. It’s not particularly memorable or quotable, but it does provide some laughs.

Though if you haven’t seen the Jonah Hill films I mentioned above, those would be far more satisfying. You can also throw KNOCKED UP (2007) and SUPERBAD (2007) into the mix. His roles in THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN (2005) and FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (2008) amount to mere cameos.

© Copyright 2011 by Kelly Laymon

Kelly Laymon gives THE SITTER~three knives.

This entry was posted on December 14, 2011 at 3:51 am and is filed under 2011, Comedies, Kelly Laymon Reviews, R-Rated Comedy with tags Adult Comedy, David Gordon Green, Jonah Hill, Sitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.