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 typical! Having turned out the delightful, The Babysitter (1969) the director and writer/star get together to do it all again. But hey, did the pair not get what made the first so much fun? I don't think so for this one takes itself so seriously it is positively boring at times. George E Carey is still effective in the main role and at the start there is some vaguely amusing stuff playing on the fact that Hollywood found it so difficult to get the whole hippie sub culture onto film effectively. But it soon drags with the wife a junkie surrounded by wooden actors and overlong sequences of cannabis smoking and bike racing. Candy is here played by Susan Romen and is fine but so coy, indeed the whole film is much less candies than the earlier one. Another sign, maybe, that this was to be a 'serious' film.

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?

The babysitter fantasy is present in this early 1970 classic flick. A classic in its own right, Weekend with the Babysitter captured everything that was true about the 1970's. Let me explain. From the clothes, the music, the drugs, the parties, and the generation. Susan Romen is perfect as a 70's teenager who is just one of many girls of her generation who is playing with rebellion. Her beautiful innocents leads her into seducing a married man and making him see how much he truly loves his wife. Worth the 4 dollar rental fee....check it out.

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!