MOVIES | MOVIE REVIEW

The Devil Wears Down Her Nanny

THE NANNY DIARIES Comedy

Scarlett Johansson and Nicholas Reese Art in "The Nanny Diaries."

“The Nanny Diaries,” a scattershot screen adaptation of Emma McLaughlin and Nicola
Kraus’s 2002 satirical beach read, has one unassailable asset. As this exposé of the rich
and miserable on the Upper East Side wobbles along uncertainly, it rests on the tense,
squared shoulders of Laura Linney. Ms. Linney defies a screenplay that paints her
character, Mrs. X, a Park Avenue socialite, as a monstrous control freak. She is a smart,
flexible actress who invests her role, a composite of former employers of the novel’s
authors, with enough humanity to arouse some pity.
The movie, like the book, is narrated by Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson), a New
Jersey-born anthropology student hired by Mrs. X to be the latest in a stream of nannies
for her spoiled little boy, Grayer (Nicholas Reese Art). In many ways Mrs. X is as much a
slave driver as Miranda Priestly, the fashion editor indelibly played by Meryl Streep in
the movie version of the novel “The Devil Wears Prada.”

But Ms. Linney’s rich, high-strung snob and Ms. Streep’s chilly fashion empress are
markedly different personalities. Mrs. X, for all her pretensions of grandeur, must
answer to her husband (Paul Giamatti), a crude, ugly, foulmouthed boor who keeps his
wife on a tight leash. (In one of his few exchanges with his son Mr. X barks to Grayer that
he had better be ready to take over the world next week.) Miranda, however, calls the
shots in her life. Where Ms. Linney’s Park Avenue mother can be heard screaming at her
husband behind closed doors, Ms. Streep’s Miranda never, ever raises her voice.
The screen adaptations of these two chick-lit blockbusters follow the same formulaic
path from naïveté to shock to disillusionment and ultimately to purification. In both
stories the dutiful young acolytes become so caught up in their bosses’ horrid
compulsions that their very souls are threatened; friends and family go by the wayside.

Annie lies to her mother, a nurse (Donna Murphy) who has pinched pennies to pay for
her daughter’s college education, by telling her she has a trainee job on Wall Street. Her
relationship with her childhood best friend (Alicia Keys) also suffers. But just before the
big bad wolves — the rich and powerful — are about devour the Little Red Riding Hoods
in these books, they see the light and parachute into improbably soft landings.
Because “The Nanny Diaries” is essentially a two-character story whose supporting
players are wooden props, it would help if the actors playing the two were evenly
matched. But Ms. Johansson’s Annie, who narrates the movie in a glum, plodding voice,
is a leaden screen presence, devoid of charm and humor. With her heavy-lidded eyes and
plump lips, Ms. Johansson may smolder invitingly in certain roles, but “The Nanny
Diaries” is the latest in a string of films that suggest that this somnolent actress confuses
sullen attitudinizing with acting.

Especially at the beginning of “The Nanny Diaries” there are signs that its directing and
writing team, Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, had a different movie in mind.
The pair, who created “American Splendor,” the quirky portrait of the Cleveland comic-
book writer Harvey Pekar, make amusing use of Annie’s anthropology studies. In a
sequence at the American Museum of Natural History, Annie, playing tour guide, points
to various social types, posed like prehistoric figures in dioramas. In a Mary Poppins-
inspired fantasy, she is also shown sailing across the New York skyline under a red
umbrella.
But such whimsical touches have no connection with the substance of the movie, which
consists mostly of soapsuds. The storytelling is rushed and sloppy. It’s only a matter of
days before the boy in Annie’s charge makes a ludicrous U-turn from hellion into little
angel.

In books and movies like “The Nanny Diaries,” which play to our voyeuristic
schadenfreude regarding the lives of the rich and powerful, it is essential to pile on the
juicy inside details that show exactly how these people drive themselves and everyone
around them crazy. Although “The Nanny Diaries” has an abundance of such details, the
movie is in far too much of a hurry to take a breath and develop them into polished
comic set pieces.
There is Mrs. X’s list of house rules: Grayer is encouraged to read the financial press and
is directed toward all things French. (At a French-theme birthday party two Marcel
Marceau-like mimes present Grayer’s birthday cake with icing that spells “bonne fête.”)
Grayer’s diet (including ice cream) is to consist almost entirely of soy products. The West
Side is strictly off-limits (socially inferior), as is the subway (too many germs).
At a ghastly costume party with an American-history theme in Mr. X’s office, Annie is
forced to dress like Betsy Ross. When Grayer insists on using his father’s private
bathroom, Annie stumbles into Mr. X’s inner sanctum to find him canoodling with an
assistant. The movie’s most biting sequence is of an obligatory mommy-nanny seminar
at which cowering nannies (most from poor countries and with limited English) are
encouraged to air their grievances against their employers and achieve harmony.
This rigged group-therapy session, whose facilitator wears a frozen smile and addresses
the assembly in the unctuous tones of a grade-school teacher, is the only scene in the
movie to hint at the rot under the charade. Nothing is allowed to disturb the fantasy of
perfect moms making perfect lives for their perfect children. For an ugly, satisfying
moment, the rock is lifted.
“The Nanny Diaries” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has some
profanity.
THE NANNY DIARIES
Opens today nationwide.
Written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, based on the novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola
Kraus; director of photography, Terry Stacey; edited by Mr. Pulcini; music by Mark Suozzo; production designer, Mark
Ricker; produced by Richard N. Gladstein; released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer and the Weinstein Company. Running time:
105 minutes.
WITH: Scarlett Johansson (Annie Braddock), Laura Linney (Mrs. X), Paul Giamatti (Mr. X), Nicholas Reese Art (Grayer),
Donna Murphy (Judy Braddock), Alicia Keys (Lynette) and Chris Evans (Harvard Hottie).