Weekend with the Babysitter

Weekend With the Babysitter : George E. Carrey stars as Jim, a well-off B-movie director who falls for his kids' babysitter. It's not hard to understand the attraction: his wife, a washed up actress-turned-junkie, is pretty damn irritating. Plus, the babysitter gives him some tips on the ridiculous script he's working on--a motorcycle gang/hippie movie. Trouble mounts while the director and babysitter are exploring free-wheeling good times (under the guise of doing movie research) when Jim's wife gets in too deep with some drug dealers by offering up her husband's fancy boat to complete a drug deal in exchange for another fix. What's funny about this film is that its predecessor, The Babysitter (1969), also stars George E. Carrey in what amounts to the same part. In this one, George E. Carrey is credited as co-writer of the film's plot. Funnier still is the babysitter, played here by Susan Romen, is named Candy, which is the namesake of the earlier film's babysitter as well, as depicted by Patricia Wymer. The most "meta" connection between the two is that, when Candy review's Jim's new script, she criticizes the dialogue, noting that "people don't talk this way." For all we know, she could have been reading the script of the earlier Babysitter film--although it's amusing to note that the Candys in both films enjoy saying "Ciao, baby!" This one is mostly entertaining, although the 1969 film is better by a thin margin.

How could the previous reviewer not mention motorcycles, ocean cruising, flying, ski chalet fireplace, and so much more? And where else can you find Mona waiting for her husband to back the car out of the garage? Where did Mikey go? I missed that part. "Weekend..." reminded me of one of those low-budget Bigfoot movies. It certainly had it's dark moments, though. I give it an 8 for pushing the envelope.

Despite the suggestive title, and the fact that it was produced by Crown-International Pictures (the makers of a number of sleazy drive-in movies), WWTB is far from the sleazefest that you may think it will be. In fact, the movie for the most part seems to be making an effort to be pretty tasteful. This may make the movie sound pretty boring, but the movie manages to be surprisingly entertaining all the same.

To start with, the movie's male protagonist is not a selfish dirty old man who has the "seven year itch" and lusts after his family's babysitter. He's actually made to be pretty sympathetic early on. It's clearly shown that his marriage has problems, and while some of these problems may come from him, we see that the majority of the strife comes from his wife. (Also, we see that he has been making efforts to improve the relationship, but they haven't been working.) Then when he subsequently finds himself with the babysitter and starts doing things with her, having an affair seems the last thing on his mind for a considerable amount of time. As well, it's shown that when the affair starts, the babysitter does as much - if not more - to start the affair.

Also a pleasant surprise is how our protagonist interacts with the friends of his babysitter. He doesn't talk down to them, seems genuinely interested in them, and freely tries their activities. Also pleasing is that these same young people don't seem to have a problem with him being much older than them. They are very friendly to him, and gladly teach him of his ways. There is an underlying sweetness to the movie, even with the inevitable nudity and sex that eventually arrives.

In fact, the movie is actually very dialogue-driven for its first half, and while the dialogue may not be up to Shakespeare, it has a natural inviting feeling that keeps your attention. The dialogue makes these characters interesting, giving them quirks that you don't often see in movies like this. (Such as with the sympathetic junkie seen in the subplot with the wife.)

The movie is far from perfect; the last hour has some clunky and somewhat boring bits, and there seems to be no firm resolution between our protagonist and his babysitter (or with his wife, for that matter.) But I still highly recommend this to those who like drive-in movies. Hard to believe this was directed by "Billy Jack" himself!

There was a shooting star named Patricia Wymer, who appeared in a 1969 film by the same director called The Babysitter. She only did about three movies and then disappeared.

Director Don Henderson brings in a new girl, Susan Romen, to play Candy Wilson, the babysitter. She only made two films. As a matter of interest, Henderson quit directing the same time after only three films. I wonder what happened to all these people.

Anyway, while movie producer Jim Carlton (George E. Carey) is having fun with the babysitter and her hippie friends, his wife Mona (Luanne Roberts) is captive to her drug dealer.

This is not the typical grindhouse film of the 70s. It was more a drama about hippies and drugs. Yes, there was some nudity and woman on woman action, but it was rather tame.

Still, a good story, if the acting was a bit lame.

Who was taking care of the kids while Jim and the babysitter were having fun?

Another poor exploitation movie from Crown International Pictures. This one's about a tired, hen-pecked old middle-aged guy who falls for the young girl babysitting his kids, and begins an affair with her. The movie was shot by Don Henderson, not the actor, and is a virtual reprise of the same director's film of the previous year, THE BABYSITTER, allowing for some self-referencing moments. Overall though it's a kind of sad, wish-fulfilment type film with a bit of a grubby edge to it.

Sadly, as with a lot of Crown fare, this one has dated a lot and not in a good way. The film just sort of dawdles along while the characters take drugs and indulge in various pleasurable activities which don't transmit to the viewer. There's a lot of talk and none of it is very interesting. It's clunky throughout, performed by a cast of low-level actors who fail to make much of an impression, and never as controversial as it wants to be. Saying that, the director does manage to cram in a fair few nude and sex scenes for his young starlet, so WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER does have a requisite sleazy feel to it.