"The Nanny Diaries" by Emma McLaughlin is an excellent book but "The Nanny Diaries" directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini is only a satisfactory movie.
The book is an entertaining read with unrealistic yet well-developed characters that didn't need to be represented by Hollywood. Since this is a movie review, not a book review, "Diaries" is only a decent representation of its literary counterpart.
Scarlett Johansson is Annie Braddock, a New Jersey-native college graduate who, intimidated by the expectations surrounding her business degree and imminent entrance into the real world, takes a nanny job in New York City for an upper-eastside family. The child, Grayer, (Nicholas Art) starts out the tale as a terror, raised improperly by a stereotypical, workaholic father (Paul Giamatti) and neglectful, shop-aholic mother (Laura Linney). Grayer eventually warms up to Annie and everyone learns valuable life lessons from everyone else.
Annie is forced to juggle errands from the collar-popping Mrs. X (Linney) and Mr. X (Giamatti), spending all of her time with Grayer, hiding her blossoming relationship from the Xes with "Harvard Hottie" (Chris Evans), covering up Mr. X's affair, and various other dysfunctions and quirks of the X family.
The demands are outrageous but Annie handles them and so does Johansson. Her performance is cute enough for a cute movie.
The frame of the movie takes on the form of a museum tour as Annie expresses her interest in anthropology. Less than the diary that the book embraces as its skeleton, the movie elicits the museum. It examines the stereotypes of the upper-eastside in a successfully satiric manner using wax figures. The frills of the movie, which are not in the book, really do add to the tale on the silver screen instead of retracting. Linney is awesome as a woman vying for her husband's affection while shunning her son's. She's loveable and unassuming in "Love Actually" but in the "Diaries" Linney undoubtedly proves that she can play both sides. Giamatti is heard more than seen in the film, but he accurately portrays a sleazebag, one would never want raising (or failing to raise) one's child.
Annie's best friend Lynette (Alicia Keys) saves Annie temporarily from a debacle with her mother and is a very believable side-kick. Evans, as Harvard Hottie, isn't given an actual name until the very end of the movie. He's too perfect but viewers can't help but be happy for Annie when she clenches Mr. Right.
Annie's job completely unravels. All solutions are met with the aid of the "nanny cam." "Diaries" is held together like a well-managed museum: there are many exhibits to appreciate, but what really beats reading a great book? For a movie that identifies stereotypes, the book-turned-movie is another obvious stereotype: the book is better than the movie.
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