The Sitter

College dropout Noah (Jonah Hill) is content doing the bare minimum ambling aimlessly through his life with his only point of pride being a "girlfriend" who only keeps him around to eat her out. When Noah's mother enlists his help babysitting for a friend's kids so she can keep her date, Noah reluctantly finds himself caring for a trio of problematic children including anxiety ridden Slater (Max Records), adopted pyromaniac and borderline psychopathic Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez), and vain, attention hungry Blithe (Landry Bender) who wishes to be an aspiring club girl. When Noah has a chance to finally have actual sex with his girlfriend he takes the kids with him into the city to score some drugs at her request, but the kids bring all kinds of chaos including spurring the vengeance of insane drug dealer Karl (Sam Rockwell)

Produced in 2011, The Sitter was one of two films by Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green to be released along with Your Highness. The film was a commercial and critical disappointment but its effects on its cast and crew were negligible as Hill also starred in Oscar winning Moneyball and the next year would lead the successful and well regarded 21 Jump Street, and David Gordon Green would return to indie fare before going mainstream resurrecting the Halloween franchise. While it's nice the fallout was minimal, The Sitter is unfortunately a rather by the numbers affair that was standard of films trying to ape the success of the Hangover where crude, gross, and mean is somehow automatically funny.

The movie makes a misguided introduction from the outset establishing Noah as a loser with a sex buddy who doesn't respect him while also making Noah a lazy irresponsible idiot with no aspirations that reach beyond sitting in an armchair in his mother's house. When Noah is saddled with the three kids who are all varying degrees of "quirky" with Max Records' Slater probably being the best performance by default, the movie becomes rather aggravating especially with Blithe's Paris Hilton/Tara Reid persona (I think, it's actually kind of hard to tell what they're going for here) used to rather cringing effect. The movies first half is basically a barrage of scatological, urinary, and gay panic jokes which are set up poorly no sense of comic friction or much in the way of payoff. But then the movie tries to play itself for pathos with its kid characters all having revelations that ring rather hollow especially when it comes to a "coming out" moment that rings rather hollow against the movie's crass humor. The performances are at least decent, with Sam Rockwell clearly having fun playing the unhinged Karl who steals the scene whenever he's on camera.

The Sitter has the same recurring problems of post 2009 comedies in that it goes for shock thinking that will be enough to sustain comic momentum. With unlikable characters and a rather sleazy approach that does a tonal 180 trying to play itself for character growth, The Sitter just doesn't work.

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.

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.

"You done messed with the wrong babysitter."

As fat boy comedies go, The Sitter is just another caricature-ridden, offensive satire with kids. Noah (Jonah Hill) does much of the politically-incorrect heavy lifting while the kids stick to flatulence, groin punches, and world-weariness to make Noah seem downright naïve.

Noah is on suspension from college when he is recruited to sit for three eccentric kids; Slater (Max Records), a pubescent, gymnastics-viewing, just emerging gay boy; a kick-butt tween, Blithe (Landry Bender), who finds a few too many hotties, including round Jonah; and a very young, adopted El Salvadoran, Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez), who has a surly attitude and a penchant for explosives. The evening, to which one must "make love," or so one of their street friends rhapsodizes, has episodes that mostly allow fledgling writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanakato to indulge their fascination for f bombs and stereotypes that mostly hover around or in street gangs.

There is little logic to the sequences that involve oral sex, cocaine, and nightclub naughtiness, none of which the children should be exposed to but which the tubby Noah justifies in platitudes about their need to see the world. As in Bad Santa, the irreverence is amusing and probably filmed not in the presence of the kids.

What saves the film from oblivion is Slater's coming out and Noah's gentle encouragement for Slater to be who he is. It's refreshing to hear the discussion about a young person and to respect his orientation in a film generally without respect for much of anything.

The gang is rife with caricature and cliché, especially when it eventually decides whether or not to help Jonah out of his difficulty with drug dealer Karl (a leather-clad, gold-chained Sam Rockwell). The language and mannerisms of the gang are egregiously stereotyped. But then so is schlubby Noah, a fat boy hero in a fat boy comedy.

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.