The Nanny Diaries is a good movie kind of .

What does one say about "The Nanny Diaries?
1.) "Gosh, nanny... good thing you'll never leave me."
or
2.) "Good thing we did that acid before we came to see this"
or, as I chose:
"wrong... wrong... wrong... great jacket."

As I walked into the theater five minutes late, Scarlett Johansson's delightfully husky voice was informing the audience that she was the Rolls Royce of babysitters... she was white, young, college educated, etc. This was just one of the myriad inaccuracies that irked me throughout the course of the movie. There really isn't a Rolls Royce of babysitters. Sure, Hampton Domestics would disagree... and I'm sure a few families in Palm Beach would disagree as well... but for the most part as a formerly nannied individual, as well as a friend of other formerly nannied individuals I would say the ideal nanny is more often west Indian, nurturing, large bosomed, in her 40's... and CERTAINLY not as sensual looking as Ms. Johansson (remember now, the LADIES choose the nannies).

Sure, the Weinstein namesake packs a powerful punch when it comes to promoting romantic comedies... but his lack of interest in accuracy easily compromises the integrity of the film... especially to yours truly, a Post Nannied New Yorker. It was an L.A. Jew perspective of a N.Y. Wasp... and although I'm typically the last to defend the over enfranchised, I certainly did not see this as a fair portrayal (See the following list of inaccurate/overblown/ poorly written/ unfair depictions)
- No mother prohibits her child from going to the West Side, where there are such irresistible staples such as H&H bagels, Barney Greengrass, etc.
- Nobody restricts their child to museums for fun
- The X's were certainly more of a Palm Beach/Hampton's breed... Massachusetts vacationing is far more low key than the rest of the lifestyle led one to believe
- Nobody calls their Nanny, Nanny. The Nanny is an integral part of a child's upbringing, more often referred to by an Anglicization of her name.

The movie turned out to be an audience participation for me... I would jeer at the inaccuracies... or even answer questions that the characters ask about N.Y.C. culture: When Grayer doesn't get into Collegiate, Giamatti says something along the lines of "what the hell are we going to do now?" Any P.N.N.Y. knows that the answer to that is Buckley.

Speaking of Paul Giamatti, I was freaking terrified by the red hair, blue contact makeover. He also gained a fair amount of weight... I don't know if that was on purpose. The point, though is, is that while watching his portrayal of Mr. X, I realized that he had reached a level of acting where the thespian needs to pull back. After achieving many acting accolades, Giamatti has become TOO good an actor... I mean, I thought he was FLAT OUT CREEPY. And now, because he acted as a creep so well, I no longer enjoy his acting.

Laura Linney was surprising. I certainly was surprised by how naturally her haughtiness came, however, was disappointed at frequent junctions where her superior acting was over shadowed by a rambling script, causing her character's strength to suffer at the hand of the script's weaknesses.

Linney and Giamatti were very obviously the acting chops of the film. Next to that Scarlett Johansson's pseudo acting perishes. It was, at times, incredibly awkward to watch. Every time that I sit down to watch a movie with her in it, I think to myself, "maybe now I will see why people like her." I think I saw it: Lips, Hips, Hair. She oozes sensuality, and has one of the ultimate sexy voices of our time. But as in the case of other famous occasionally blond bombshells, sensuality does not a thespian make. In fact, her poor acting makes me nothing but resentful of a Hollywood that charges 10 bones per ticket, sells sex over scripts, and still trusts the opinion of Woody Allen's oversexed casting decisions. But she is purrrrty!

Alicia Keyes should sing. And only that.

There were times where the charming tale is synthesized with a moment of directing genius. One such moment that I recall is when Laura Linney asks Scarlett Johansson's character if a racy negligee that she has found in the laundry is hers. It was a tense moment as Linney fought back her tears and made her voice and eyes say one thing and her words another. The camera then shoots a profile of Linney in the shadows of the doorway half speaking to the poorly wallpapered walls of nanny's room and half way speaking to a befuddled looking Johansson. Laura Linney had the challenging task of having to act through several layers of Botox... KUDOS!

Indeed, The Nanny Diaries is worth seeing. Its like going out at night to look for shooting stars... Sure for the most part your just waiting to see one, but then one appears. In this film it is more often in the form of a deeply moving two minute section, a clever line, or a fantastic outfit. But I would have gone if just for the outfits!