It's bad enough that writer-director David Ross indulges in the very perverse kind of Lolita-tinged titillation the film pretends to lament, but then he ties everything up with an oh-well shrug.
Comment
05/16/08
The Babysitters (2008)
25
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:12
Fresh:3
Rotten:9
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: Though built on an audacious and controversial premise, Babysitters teeters between exploitation and grossness due to uneven execution.
Theatrical Release:May 9, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: In this dark comedy, Shirley Lyner (Katherine Waterston) may be just 16 years old, but she's smart. However, instead of just using her intelligence to get into college, she's started her own... [More]
Starring: John Leguizamo, Katherine Waterston, Cynthia Nixon, Andy Comeau
Director: David Ross
Get This Movie
Reviews for The Babysitters
1 - 12 (sorted by date)
Top CriticUntil it crosses a shadowy line dividing serious comedy from distasteful exploitation, The Babysitters has the makings of an incisive satire of greed and lust in suburbia.
05/09/08
Top CriticThe script has a stale air, like something that was doing the rounds for a long time before David Ross found backers to make a film out of it.
05/09/08
Top CriticAlthough the film is pitched as dark comedy, there's nothing very funny about the sexualization of teenagers.
05/09/08
Top CriticI'd call it a depressing soft-core porn flick, but that overstates its titillation factor. Mainly it's just icky.
05/09/08
Top CriticIt reads like a Cinemax special event, and as good as Leguizamo and Waterston (daughter of Sam) are, the skeevy, fantasy-fulfillment plot that drives David Ross' movie is uncomfortably risky business.
05/09/08
Top CriticThe film remains engaging in no small part because of the beguiling and enigmatic performance of [Katherine] Waterston, daughter of Law & Order star Sam Waterston.
05/09/08
Top CriticDespite the racy content and the alarmist 18A classification, The Babysitters is a remarkably restrained and decent film. It's polished, smoothly edited and shot with simple elegance.
05/09/08
Top CriticThe premise is out of '70s porn, and so is the overbroad satire and almost total lack of conviction.
05/07/08
Top CriticWoefully reductive and painful.
05/07/08
Top CriticLike television’s Six Feet Under and the recent film Juno, it’s the perfect antidote to the dopey, butter-cream-frosted teen flicks of John Hughes -- Pretty in Pink with poison sauce.
05/07/08
Top CriticUltimately fails to deliver on the audacity of its premise.
09/17/07
Top Critic1 - 12 (sorted by date)
Latest News for The Babysitters
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review 
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
Moviefone's Year End Movie Poll
What were your favorites? Least favorites? The funniest and scariest? Moviefone wants to know!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds