Reviewed by Melissa Antoinette Garza
I really like Jonah Hill. I didn’t always. I was never a fan of Judd Apatow, but I saw him on Saturday Night Live and then I absolutely adored him in 21 Jump Street, so I decided to give this a-go.
Now, I wasn’t impressed with the commercials. This looked like a revamped Adventures in Babysitting but with more vulgarity. Still, Hill is a good actor and I thought he may be able to sell it by being the loveable goofball. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the character he was playing.
He babysits these three awful kids, one is a little girl who has a Paris Hilton/Kim Kardashian vibe going. She way too over-sexualized and though it’s a plot point, the casting director should have made her a few years older if that was the route they were going. When she called Noah’s (Jonah Hill) name hot, it was disturbing. When she discussed going to raves and clubs, I cringed.
Second is an anxiety ridden kid who once again is over-sexualized. When two twin girls come over to ask about him, Noah emulates him being well-endowed. We’re talking about a kid no more than 13. WTF is up with that?
Lastly, the parents adopted a child from El Salvador. He is destructive and Noah at one point calls him Bin Laden.
The whole movie is just awful. Sam Rockwell who I have loved in absolutely every role, was made to act like a second-rate Travis Brickley (Chris Penn from Best of the Best).
The film tried to be edgy but only accomplished three things –none of which are positive. It was creepy. It was stereotypical having two African American women play into the ghetto angry black chick role. It is such a demeaning role for the women to play. It’s actually historically a role that African American women had been forced into for years. Though the visual aspects of the actresses have changed, sadly the way in which they are forced to represent themselves in the same. There’s a great movie called Dancing in September about an intelligent African American sitcom which is forced to become a dime-a-dozen, racist show which based itself on catchphrases and weave jokes.
Lastly, The Sitter accomplished making every character unlikable. Sure, they each have an arc but none are worth saving.
Save your money and rent 21 Jump Street again!
Overall Rating: 2/10 – very very very bad