User reviews

Look, to seriously review a movie like this or rate it with stars is ludicrous unless you're comparing it to others of its kind ...in which case I would have given it 10 stars. This is a goofy comedy in which you must suspend disbelief continuously. That is all it was meant to be. It's just a babysitting movie, get it? Like all the rest, only it tries to bring a little freshness to the table ...and in my opinion, it does.

It showcases Jonah Hill's amazing comedic talents, and we get to see some really good performances by some child actors too. Yes, it's Hill's signature shtick, but look closely and you'll see incredible timing and a guy who is extremely capable of carrying a movie. There are some good jokes written into it, but the film completely relies on the performances, and I doubt anyone associated with it would disagree (well, let's hope they wouldn't).

In my opinion, most of the comedy works the way it was supposed to, and the few half-way serious moments do too. In terms of its edginess, it seems to up the ante on the simple formula flick that it is. It's safe to say that if it suits your sense of humor and you're willing to go for the ride, you'll have a good time. I wish people would quit over-analyzing movies like this. The bottom line is that the jokes are either your cup of tea or they are not.

C+

I know the majority of the film is predictable, dare I say cliché, but the ride was very enjoyable. That is, after-all, the nature of the comedy genre. How often do I go see a comedy for its intricate storyline, radical character development or enigmatic themes? Close to never, honestly, and so with that reasoning why not go balls-out? Jonah Hill is a very likable character in the film with an understandable ploy. It lacks the in-your-face violence of director previous film "Pineapple Express", but it is definitely hilarious, no doubt about that. The kids are very well played, and thankfully come out as pretty decent characters. Thankfully nowhere near as annoying as the duo of the "Are We There Yet?" films. It's definitely a coming-of-age film that may not be a classic, but it certainly is worth seeing.

While I'm not a fan of titles being changed in Germany, this one should have been the original title. I'm sure Bad Santa wouldn't have a problem with that. But Jonah Hill goes from this to his awesome performance in Moneyball? You wouldn't expect that, but the man has talent. This movie is really funny too. And while I am not a fan of watching trailers of movies beforehand, this time it didn't take away too much from the movie (not to mention that there is scene in the trailer, that didn't make the theatrical cut).

Jonah is surrounded by kids and they all have their moments. And while it is anything but PC, it also has its really emotional moments. Most of them may be predictable, but the way it is executed and played really works for the movie and the audience.

Yeah underrated has hell if you look at the scores.

It's definitely a movie that will keep you entertained through out the entire movie. Many twists and turns in the settings and how the characters grow.

Sure it's just a random comedy movie but it's a good one and it needs to be seen and to be rated higher. It's better than most crap that comes out these days.

It has some big laughs and yeah what more is there to say than that if you have heard of this movie. Just see it. You will laugh and be entertained. And it has a good message too not a deep message in some sense but a good one so yep see it NOW !

The Sitter is a deflated comedy robbed of all laughs, jokes, and originality. It knows formula well, but doesn't know where to go from there. It also knows how to pick a lovable lead actor who is consistently funny in everything he does. It's the second film to be released by independent filmmaker David Gordon Green this next to Your Highness. Both will earn a special place on my list of worst films for 2011.

Even since Your Highness, David Gordon Green has successfully put me in a state of never-ending puzzlement. Here's a guy that has made back to back acclaimed independent features, and now, chooses to use his time directing lame, directionless comedies without wit or a soul. The Sitter takes an already mediocre premise and refuses to push it off its feet into something more original or fresh. It understands the formula inside out, but proceeds to disregard everything else.

Noah (Hill) is a layabout who is lured into babysitting three children for his mom's friend so they can go to a party together. The kids are sexual confused Slater (Record), the pint sized fourth Kardashian Blithe (Bender), and the rebellious Latino Rodrigo (Hernandez). What kind of children are these? They're not normal children. They feel like real people shrunk down to fit pint sized kids. Regardless, their roles aren't at all funny.

Soon after arriving at the job and discovering the chaotic duty behind it, Noah's girlfriend Marisa (Graynor) calls asking him to deliver her cocaine at a party and she'll reward him with sex. Noah tries to get cocaine, but Rodrigo winds up stealing an egg full of cocaine, costing Noah over $10,000.

Oh, and I'm not even going to continue from there. The film is relentless in its gags and events, none of them even remotely realistic or the least bit funny. The biggest laughs, in fact, aren't even from Jonah Hill, but J.B. Smoove who you may recognize as Leon from Curb Your Enthusiasm. I actually would've adored the idea of him playing the babysitter much more than Hill. Don't you hate it when that happens? In the same movie, you find an actor who is playing the secondary character, but you wind up liking him more than the actor playing primary character and wish the film went through some sort of star reversal? The endangerment of the kids is sickening, the jokes appallingly unfunny, the setups are outlandish, and the sentimentality the film tries to shoot for at the end is deplorable. We just saw a man put these children through hell, he's unapologetic throughout the entire film, and now he wants to make a complete three-sixty and get on their good side.

Is this as bad as Green's Your Highness? It's close. Your Highness at least had the ability to have me stay frustrated for several hours after watching the film. I got over The Sitter's abashed nature quickly, but felt saddened and cheated. I was hoping that Green would seek redemption in the character and everything wouldn't go the way it was supposed to. Green isn't the director who stays inside the lines, so I was hoping he'd make a smarter comedy here.

The Sitter is an exercise is cheap filmmaking. It relies on lackluster stereotypes, recycled jokes, and caricatures to function inside its dead formula. It's a miserable comedic workout.

Starring: Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor, Sam Rockwell, Method Man, Kevin Hernandez, Max Records, and Landry Bender. Directed by: David Gordon Green.

One of those situations that continue to spiral out of control and you're not quite sure how it's gonna turn out, very entertaining, with the exception of a few bits most adults would enjoy.

Greetings again from the darkness. Seeing more than 100 new movies every year means strict adherence to the "gut instincts" policy of deciding which new movies to see, and which to avoid. A day after the beat down of "Shame", I was desperate for laughter, so I ignored the gut instinct and headed out to see this new comedy. Unfortunately, my gut was correct, and I am still seeking laughter.

David Gordon Green also directed Pineapple Express and Your Highness, neither my style, but both clearly comedies. Jonah Hill has quite the track record of comedy films (Cyrus), and earlier this year made his first foray into drama with "Moneyball". He has also recently lost a tremendous amount of weight, so this was to be his final "fat guy" comedy.

If you have seen the far-superior "Adventures in Babysitting" (1987) with Elisabeth Shue, then you know the basic premise. Hill does his mother a favor by agreeing to babysit her friend's three kids. This proves more challenging than Hill's character expected. The kids are Slater, played by Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are); Blithe, played by Landry Bender; and Rodrigo, played by Kevin Hernandez. The kids, of course, have various afflictions, phobias and disorders ... but none as off the charts as Hill's character.

Without going into detail, the first scene is horrible and the movie somehow proceeds to get worse from there. There is bathroom humor, a run in with a drug dealer (Sam Rockwell), a bitchy girlfriend (Ari Graynor) and a confrontation with a group of African Americans featuring Method Man. Every scene is predictable and generated no laughter from me or hardly anyone else in the theater. I always say that comedies are most difficult genre to review, because everyone has a unique sense of humor ... but this one just offers so very little.

When I first saw the trailer to this movie, I thought it looked hilarious. But then when I saw the trailer a second time, I didn't know what to expect. Going in, my expectations were low. I had been disappointed this year with comedies that look like a promising good time, so I didn't want to leave out of the theater again with disappointment. This movie turned out to be a lot of fun to watch. I have a very wide range sense of humor, and the comedy in this movie definitely isn't for everyone. The plot and the characters are everywhere, and with somethings you have to suspend some belief, but what do you expect with this movie? Go into this movie just wanting to have a good time. If you do that, I guarantee you will. If you go in with high expectations, I assure you, you will be disappointed.

Contrived? Oh yes. Predictable? Very. Outrageously fun with a good heart to the characters? YES

Before watching it I saw that 99% of critics( and viewers by the looks of it) hated this movie with a passion. They complained it was "predictable" and "unfunny". Well, so what if it was predictable? Most movies are, answer me this how many movies have you seen where you were genuinely surprised at the ending. So naturally, my expectations were lowered. But I thought the acting by the children was really good and Jonah Hill was as funny as usual. Also, it dealt with a prevalent issue in many kids' lives, coming out as gay. It dealt with this in a respectful and not overly-sentimental way.

Basically this movie is not trying to bag an Oscar and it is not high- art melodrama stuff and it's not even close to being one of my favourite films. So watch it if you like a good,rowdy comedy.

The Sitter is Mary Poppins meets the hangover. Jonah Hill does good in this comedy. There movie is enjoyable but not an outstanding movie more something you'd watch with your friends, The movie could have had more but the length isn't long (81 mins). Funny scenes through out and doesn't drag on which is good. This isn't the Jonah Hill you'd have scene in Superbad but is very close. I also taught the movie had a funny start which led to me continuing to watch the movie. Director David Gordon Green does do a decent job with this film and is a typical comedy just like his films Pineapple Express and Your Highness. Comment on this to tell me what you all taught of the film.

As the what title suggests, I don't expect anyone looking forward to watching a drama-comedy that has depth. This is more of a pure comedy and an entertaining one at that for me, so I'd consider it successful.

And yes, The Sitter is quite unoriginal and what movie-goers call "predictable". I admit it's a kind of fun to try to expect the unexpected, but a predictable story does not equal a bad story. In fact, from the beginning of the 80 minutes or so until the end I'd been kept entertained and I honestly didn't experience many boring moments.

Other than its comedic scenes, the movie does have attempts to include moving scenes that make the audience learn something. I would say those attempts are not highly effective but not at all futile efforts.

The best way to conclude The Sitter is to say that it is a good comedy for young adults or above. Language and inappropriate behavior are main reasons this may not be suitable for children or younger teens. The Sitter is an enjoyable movie that is funny and does not require too much thinking to understand.

As some other reviewers have noted, what we have here is a blatant rip-off of the 1980s movie "Adventures In Babysitting". I wouldn't have minded that fact had "The Sitter" been entertaining, but it isn't for two big reasons:

(1) The characters are extremely annoying. They are foul-mouthed, mean, cruel, and downright stupid at times. I really didn't care if they would succeed in their aims or not.

(2) The movie just isn't funny. There is a mean-spiritness to most of the humor that makes it hard to take. Oh, there are a couple of one-liners that are somewhat amusing, but otherwise the humor is loud and grating.

Although "Adventures In Babysitting" wasn't a great movie, it is Oscar worthy compared to "The Sitter".

"I'm not a real babysitter. I'm more of a sit on the couch, do what I say or I'll kill you type of babysitter." Noah (Hill) is guilted into babysitting for his mother's friends kids so his mom can go out on a date. Thinking it will be an easy put to the kids to bed and watch TV night he agrees. His dreams disappear in a night of explosions, car jackings, street fights and drug dealers. I have to admit that I really like Jonah Hill and think everything he does is funny. I was very weary of this one though since the preview wasn't that exciting. After about 10 minutes I was laughing and put at ease. I expected this to be a remake of "Adventures In Babysitting" and while I haven't seen that in a while I do think it was a more adult version of it. There are some really funny parts in this and some great lines which make it very much worth watching. The only bad thing I can really say about this is that I don't think I can watch this more then once. Overall, worth a watch but not really one to own. I did like it though. I give it a B+.

After seeing all the movies I had already wanted to watch with my movie theatre-working friend the past week or so, I let him rope me into reluctantly seeing this what I'm sure would be a low comedy-groaner. In this one, Jonah Hill is a college dropout who's trying to survive his existence of living with his single mom with occasional sexual favors to his "girlfriend". Then he ends up having to babysit a bunch of dysfunctional kids when the scheduled one bows out. I'll stop there and just say that I found the whole thing quite funny in a raunchy way with some touching moments that didn't seem tacked on for me. So on that note, The Sitter wasn't too bad as raunchy comedies go. So yeah, that's a recommendation.

Remarkably bad. Good concept, horrible writing, profanity throughout, including from children, as if that's funny. Pure garbage. Jonas Hill, still chubby, picked an incredibly poor film to star in. Some of the lines are atrocious, "you have more issues than a magazine stand." Really? This line was delivered to a kid, by the way. A little girl in the film, for example, wants to a hooker and spends the films with make-up smeared all over her face. Yep, that's the type of sophomoric, asinine "humor" in this "film." Do you a favor, avoid this garbage at all costs. You'd be sorely disappointed spending time watching this awful film with the most predictable ending in film history. I cannot stress enough how poorly written this script is.

(Plot) A lazy college student that is serving a suspension is cajoled into being a babysitter for the kids next door. What he doesn't realize is that he is getting much more than he bargained for than just a few measly bucks…

With these types of comedies, it's not hard to tell what you're getting. They go out of their way to cross the line to make people laugh, and usually I find that lazy, but I can't help but admit that I managed to have a decent time with this one. Most of the kids are whiny and unlikable, it goes for the kitchen sink in terms of being rancid, but I couldn't help but laugh at it. Maybe it was just the mood I was in, but I had some fun. Jonah Hill is his usual dependable self. His lazy character is detestable and I absolutely loved it. Kevin Hernandez is by far the best of the bunch of the kids as Rodrigo. He steals the show as the malevolent kid. I got a kick out of him. And, of course, we get the ever reliable Sam Rockwell.

Final Thoughts: It's not great, but what do you really expect when it comes to this film? Turn your brain off, and have a few laughs!

6/10

The Sitter - TRASH IT (D) The Sitter has to be one of the most dreadful movies of the year. A movie about a guy babysitting as his mom can go on date has gone terribly wrong, maybe it looks good on paper but on role its just bad. This one tries so hard to be R-rated that it's annoying. Jonah Hill looked stuck in a fat suit & didn't put any effort into the character. Max Records and Landry Bender were fine but Rodrigo was terribly annoying. Why a family would adopts a grown child when they already have trouble in their marriage. Sam Rockwell and all his steroids team were not funny at all. Overall, just trash this garbage not worth watching at all!

Jonah Hill stars as Noah Griffith, an unlikely babysitter. Think of Adventures in Babysitting with a twist. Jonah Hill plays a suburban babysitter to three troubled youths. Slater is a troubled young boy with a secret which is obvious. Blithe acts like a young pageant contestant. Then there is the adopted son, Rodrigo, who enjoys explosions. They end up on an likely adventure in New York City particularly Brooklyn, New York. The film was shot on location. I have to say that Jonah Hill does a decent job in his performance. It has some laughs.

As far as comedy goes, Jonah Hill has steadily made a name for himself as a star in the genre. Personally, his films have always been hit or miss for me, and I've come to the conclusion that his best work is reserved for those times when he has a solid, usually more naturally comedic, actor to support him. With The Sitter, he is already at a disadvantage; his main supporting actors are children and, for the most part, his abilities are front-and-center for the entire film, which was entirely his idea to begin with. The results are mixed at the best of times and, for the most part, lackluster in general.

What immediately screamed at me about the opening sequence was "trying very hard to get the audience's attention". I won't spoil the scene for those who haven't seen the movie, but you'll agree with me once you do. Before I go much further, let it be known that I am an extremely big fan of lighthearted, irrelevant humor (Anchorman is one of my most loved comedies, for instance), and for the most part these are the sorts of films Jonah fits into. The Sitter tries to emulate the formula of many recent successful comedies in terms of witty one-liners and clever trade-offs between characters, occasionally seasoned with a bit of more physical comedy. It's an old system, of course, and something I've more or less come to terms with as being "the norm" in popular comedic cinema. But what disappoints me about The Sitter is how many times it whiffs on the concepts; seemingly custom-made situations for Jonah's quick, nonchalant wittiness are, for the most part, poorly written and performed. The more action-based comedic portions of The Sitter involve a child with a penchant for explosives and some vehicle shenanigans that are rather uninspired and bland without the accompanying depth of creative dialog and jokes.

At some point, perhaps early on or perhaps towards the end, the movie takes a sudden shift into the dramatic, focusing on Jonah's character's relationship with his father or the troubles with his "girlfriend". These aspects of the film ring as hollow and somehow incomplete in the face of a heavy dose of relatively immature and inane comedy. The character development is far too sparse and, when it does take place, far too blunt and, again, uninspired to merit the delving into such intimate places. What does work, and this surprised even me, is how Jonah's character relates to the children he is babysitting. Being an eternal child at heart, Jonah's connection to his ward's problems feels perfectly natural and, in certain ways, touching to a degree. But ultimately it all feels out of place, like a scarecrow in an empty field; it would have a purpose if only it's surroundings were in better shape.

The whole film moves at an increasingly agonizing pace at it becomes more and more clear that you're actually waiting for something funny to happen. Not to say it doesn't happen; but the consistency is so off that it ruins the entire project. There's a certain level of bland, uninspired atmosphere that permeates the film, oozing out of it like a thick mud you cannot remove yourself from. And when you finally do, when the mood lightens and you actually catch yourself grinning or maybe even shocked to hear a chuckle cross your lips, you raise your foot from the mud...only to find your shoe still stuck in it. Relief turns back into aggravation and, more than anything else, you just want it to end.

Not sure why this movie was made. It seems as if every offensive cliché was abused to the max. This movie made no sense and it questioned the intelligence of every movie goer in the world. The kids were acting as if they were given a concept of a movie child and then allowed by the director to ad-lib (badly). The resolution for the kids problems were so poorly done and the premise made me wish I never got on this ride. The blaxploitation of the 70's seemed to be revived in a gruesome side story which made me cringe. Sam Rockwell played his part with a comedic timing which made him a stand out in the whole thing. I am not sure what the movie says about today's entertainment writing in Hollywood. Jonah Hill acted as if he channeled the "Greek" movie into collaboration of improbably scenes. I guess the use of Method Man legitimized the ethnic scenes or something. I am pretty certain this production was not vying for the Academy Awards or the Golden Globe. The predictable story line just got dumber as it went on and on. This movie was about 45 minutes too long.

You know what this movie is about and I'm not going to go there. What I will tell you is that the movie is better than 5.5/10 it's got now, you just need to watch it relaxed, don't expect it to be a masterpiece, take it as a fun, comedy flick which exaggerates, but not the Rob Schneider kind of way, his movies are painful to watch, this one is simply entertaining. But what about the flaws you say? Oh, it's got many, probably too many to list, but now that I've watched it, I probably couldn't name you three but I could describe you three scenes I laughed most at.

Is it harsh to rate kids' performances? Anyway, they were not at all bad, in my opinion, they were better than that kid in high-praised Hugo.