9/13/2011
“The Babysitters” could be classified as a Lifetime style movie mixed with a big handful of Cinemax sleaze, but is it ever fun to watch. It’s quite the guilty pleasure, but also a disturbing view of seedy suburban life.
First time writer/director David Ross creates a world where seemingly every man is a depraved, sex obsessed creep. One such man (the most “normal”) is Michael played by John Leguizamo who is going through the proverbial mid-life crisis. Married with two young boys he begins an illicit affair with the babysitter, Shirley played by Katherine Waterston. She is a tall brunette who is smart, beautiful and has good business sense. When Michael tells his friends about Shirley’s “services” they want her to babysit for them too. So she gets a few of her hot friends to help out and all of a sudden she is running a prostitution ring and getting a 20 percent cut.
She tells us in the beginning that she is a regular girl from a non-dysfunctional family and has never been abused or anything. She just likes the money and giving head isn’t any more humiliating than flipping burgers. There is no morality in this film and the main characters realize this as Shirley mentions to Michael that they’re both going to hell for this. The most outright uncomfortable and disturbing scenes take place at a cabin where all the middle-aged married guys get together with all the underage babysitter prostitutes for a big party. Everybody has taken ecstasy and bad things are close behind. During a bathroom scene, we are shocked back to reality as to what these people are doing. This is really the only point where we see any consequences from this whole ordeal.
So if you happen to find yourself bored one night, grab a few beers, a bag of chips, lock the door and watch “The Babysitters”.