The Nanny Diaries

May 9, 2009 - Scarlett Johansson does some on-the-job research when she gets hired as a nanny by a well-off family in Manhattan. Laura Linney is her employer. Alicia Keys is her best friend.

Johansson plays Annie Braddock, newly graduated from college with a degree in business or something and a minor in anthropology. She lands an interview with a big financial firm in NYC but is stumped by the interviewer's first question, "Who is Annie Braddock?" She flees the interview and goes to Central Park, which starts a series of events that leads her to be hired as a nanny by Mrs. X (Linney).

Over the next few months, Annie learns to care for the child, Grayer, while learning that life with money is not all it's cracked up to be.

Overall review: ** Annie tells her story in the context of answering a question on an application for graduate school. This, we're told, is why most of the characters aren't referred to by their real names. The effect on the movie as a whole is that most of the characters fail to rise above the level of stereotypes, though Linney's facial expressions give Mrs. X an added layer of depth and make her more sympathetic than the rest. I would have also liked to see more of Alicia Keys. She has a good presence and seems natural in front of the camera.