6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
High school senior Shirley works as a babysitter to save money for college. She has a serious crush on Michael, father of two of her regular charges. One night, Michael and Shirley share a forbidden kiss, and he gives her a nice bonus on top of her regular babysitting fee. After Michael's married buddies find out and want in on the babysitter action, Shirley becomes a high-school madam, arranging dates between her girlfriends and the upstanding family men of their neighborhood with her trusty black book. An innocent flirtation soon spirals into an affair that causes everyone involved to lose more than they bargained for.
Starring: Katherine Waterston, Cynthia Nixon, John Leguizamo, Andy Comeau, Denis O'HareDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.
If it weren't for sex, people wouldn't have kids and need babysitters, and in The Babysitters, if it weren't for kids and the need for someone to
sit them, there
wouldn't be sex. Kind of an odd catch-22, a strange chicken-and-egg, full-circle kind of observation. But that's the idea behind Director David Ross'
picture that shows
what happens when a teenage girl sleeps with the father of the child she's sitting and begins her own local prostitution empire, seeing the potential for
easy money from an endless string of sex-starved clients. The Babysitters doesn't aim for "sexy" or "steamy" of "soft core." It's instead a
heavy,
difficult
drama about lives spiraling out of control when things are taken way too far. Despite its provocative poster art, the movie actually challenges its
viewers to think about the scenario, where it's going, what's to come of it. The film creates some heavy tension and structural uncertainty that comes
to a head in a
challenging finale that rounds the movie into a solid little experience with some dramatic heft to go along with a little skin.
Mean girls.
The Babysitters features a fairly bland and forgettable 1080p transfer. It appears consistently flat and not very well-defined, with midlevel details and generally bland colors. The image is almost always dark and dim; only a handful of brighter outdoor shots yield bright colors, for instance green leaves appearing on trees lining a city street. The majority of the film takes place at night, in shadows, or in other lower-light locations. Details never have much room to impress, and faces and clothes never capture much more than basic textures. Blacks can be a bit overzealous in spots, but flesh tones never waver too far away from a neutral appearance. Light grain is present, but the image still plays with a pasty, undefined feel. Light edge halos are evident, a few blocky backgrounds are present, color transitions struggle in shadows, and a deluge of white speckles appear briefly around the 1:10:50 mark but are otherwise absent in quantity from the proceedings. This is a serviceable transfer but audiences might rightly be left wanting a little more.
The Babysitters features a fairly energetic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music ranges from flat to aggressive, abandoning the former and favoring the latter as the film progresses. In the beginning, it plays with a fair spread across the front, with acceptable clarity and body. By the end, it's heavy and far more a focus than early in the film. Background Dance music at a party scene doesn't quite totally submerse the listener into the moment, but the pulsating beats are nicely reproduced and with some energy. Light ambience supports various scenes but never encircles audiences. A humming AC unit, a television playing in the background, and the general din of a restaurant and the inside of crowded school hallways help paint the sonic picture of various locales. Dialogue is smooth and even, only rarely competing with surrounding elements or playing shallowly. Words nicely and lightly bounce about in a dialogue scene in an otherwise empty school building stairwell. This is a fair, good quality track. It's not polished, but it supports the material very well.
This Blu-ray release of The Babysitters contains only two extras. In Making of 'The Babysitters' (480p, 7:36), cast and crew discuss the plot, the film's themes, its style, the story's darkness, casting the roles, and Katherine Waterston's performance. Also included is the film's trailer (1080p, 1:44).
Here's a case of a movie easily surpassing expectations, an example of a film that's far deeper and more dramatically fascinating than it might appear at-a-glance or upon the reading of a plot summary. The Babysitters doesn't redefine the Teen drama, but it's a solidly (and sordidly)-constructed and dramatically fascinating little affair that only really starts when the movie stops. The ending might not yield the surprise of all surprises, but it's a contextually difficult and thought-provoking finale that alone makes the movie worth a watch. Phase 4's Blu-ray release of The Babysitters features fair video and audio. One extra of value is included. Well worth a rental, and fans and potential viewers could make worse purchases at this price point.
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