The Nanny Diaries (film)
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''The Nanny Diaries'' is a 2007 American
comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film written and directed by
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini Shari Springer Berman (born July 13, 1963) and Robert Pulcini (born August 24, 1964) are an American team of filmmakers. Biographies Both Springer Berman and Pulcini were born in New York City, New York, New York (state), New York. Springer Be ...
, based on the 2002 novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Starring
Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. The List of highest-paid film actors, world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has been featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100, ''F ...
, Chris Evans,
Laura Linney Laura Leggett Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Golden Globe Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards. ...
and
Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti ( ; born June6, 1967) is an American actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globes, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. After studying a ...
. The film tells the story of a college graduate who goes to work as a
nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...
for a wealthy family in New York City. Ensconced in their home, she has to juggle their dysfunction, a new romance, and the child in her charge. ''The Nanny Diaries'' was released in the United States on August 24, 2007, by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
and
The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...
. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $47 million against a $20 million budget.


Plot

Twenty-one-year-old Annie Braddock has recently graduated from
Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...
. She has no idea what or who she wants to be. One day, while sitting in the park, Annie sees a young boy about to be hit by a
Segway A Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter device invented by Dean Kamen. The name is a registered trademark of Segway Inc. It was brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, and then subsequently as the Segway PT. ''HT ...
. Annie saves him and meets the boy's mother, who we meet as Mrs. X. When she introduces herself as "Annie", Mrs. X mistakes her words for "Nanny" and hires her to look after Grayer, the boy she saved (Mrs. X also continues to call her "Nanny" instead of "Annie" throughout the film). Annie lies to her mother Judy about taking a job at a bank and, in reality, moves into the Xs' apartment to be the nanny for Grayer. Life with the incredibly privileged Xs is not what she thought it would be, and her life is complicated further when she falls for "
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
Hottie", who also lives in the building. Interspersed with her life as the Xs' nanny are her interactions with "Harvard Hottie", as well as her longtime friend Lynette. "Harvard Hottie" reveals to Annie that he can relate to her charge Grayer, as when he lost his mother at age four, his absentee father left him with a string of nannies until he reached the age he could be shipped off to boarding school. Annie continues to keep her mother in the dark about her real job, giving her regular but false progress reports. Further complications arise when Judy decides to visit her, forcing Annie to pretend Lynette and her roommate Calvin are a couple and that their apartment is Annie's apartment. Judy ultimately discovers the truth when Grayer becomes severely ill, and Annie desperately calls her for help. After a rough start, Annie eventually bonds with Grayer, whom she addresses by his preferred code name, "Grover", and discovers that he is actually a sweet and loving child who is neglected by both his parents, which explains his uncontrollable behavior. Parallel to this, Annie begins to also notice that Grayer is not the only one being neglected: Mrs. X is as well, with Mr. X constantly being cruel to her and committing subtly obvious adultery. Mrs. X makes numerous attempts to make her husband love her, including lying to him about being pregnant with their second child. Annie soon realizes that Mrs. X's own cruel treatment of her is due to Mrs. X's growing frustrations from her dysfunctional marriage. Things take a turn for the worse during a family trip with the X's to
Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...
. She overhears Mrs. X telling a friend during a party that she has installed a "nanny cam" at their home in the city and plans to fire Annie after viewing footage showing Annie lovingly tending to Grayer (with Mrs. X grossly exaggerating her findings from the "nanny cam"). The next morning, Mr. X sexually assaults Annie just as Mrs. X enters the kitchen. She unreasonably fires Annie and sends her back to the city with her final payment of just $40. Flying into a rage, Annie finds the " nanny cam" in the X's house and records her feelings toward the Xs. Mrs. X brings the tape to the school meeting for the
Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...
mothers. Thinking that the tape will show Annie feeding Grayer peanut butter and jelly straight from a jar, she requests the coordinator to play it for everyone to see. All other parents in the room hear as Annie reveals the real relationship between the Xs, in the process making Mrs. X come to terms with her own reality and false happiness. Annie reconciles with her mother and continues to date "Harvard Hottie", whose real name is revealed to be Hayden. She is temporarily living with Lynette and Calvin, and pursuing her growing interest in
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
, much of which she learned through her time as the Xs' nanny. A few months later, Hayden hands Annie a letter from Mrs. X. Written in the letter is an apology and news about how Mrs. X left Mr. X, is raising Grayer alone and making stronger attempts to bond with him (and successfully doing so), and Grayer's overall improvement. She expresses her gratitude to Annie for waking her up and changing her life. Also in the letter, Mrs. X addresses Annie for the first time by her real name (instead of Nanny), and signs the letter with her own first name, Alexandra (instead of Mrs. X).


Cast


Reception


Critical response

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, 34% of 132 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''The Nanny Diaries'' miscast lead and unrealistic, one-dimensional characters make this class satire far less effective than it should've been." According to
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which calculated a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 33 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


Box office

The film was released in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on October 12, 2007. The film debuted at #6 at the box office in the United States with $7.4 million in 2,629 theaters in its opening weekend. It went on to gross $25.9 million domestically and $21.8 million overseas, for a total worldwide gross of $47.7 million against a $20 million budget.The Nanny Diaries (2007) - Weekend Box Office
Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray ...
.


References


External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nanny Diaries, The 2007 films 2007 romantic comedy-drama films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films American romantic comedy-drama films Fiction about child care occupations Films about dysfunctional families Films about nannies Films about the upper class Films based on American novels Films directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini Films set in Columbia University Films set in Manhattan Films set in Nantucket Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York City Films shot in Toronto Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films The Weinstein Company films English-language romantic comedy-drama films