The Babysitters (2008)
The Babysitters is a 2008 drama movie directed by David Ross, with a running time of 1h 28m. It stars John Leguizamo, Katherine Waterston and Cynthia Nixon.
Shirley is seventeen, a strong student babysitting to save for college, until a lonely married father she works for confides in her one night and she kisses him. The large tip that follows gives her an idea. She starts pairing her teenage friends with other restless suburban husbands, and a babysitting service quietly becomes something else. David Ross directs a small, uncomfortable drama about ambition, exploitation, and how easily a transaction gets dressed up as opportunity. John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon play the adults caught inside it, while Katherine Waterston rounds out the young cast.
Quick answers
What is The Babysitters about?
Shirley is seventeen, a strong student babysitting to save for college, until a lonely married father she works for confides in her one night and she kisses him. The large tip that follows gives her an idea. She starts pairing her teenage friends with other restless suburban husbands, and a babysitting service quietly becomes something else. David Ross directs a small, uncomfortable drama about ambition, exploitation, and how easily a transaction gets dressed up as opportunity. John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon play the adults caught inside it, while Katherine Waterston rounds out the young cast.
When was The Babysitters released?
The Babysitters was released on 9 May 2008.
How long is The Babysitters?
The Babysitters runs 1h 28m.
Who made The Babysitters?
The Babysitters was directed by David Ross.
Where can I watch The Babysitters?
The Babysitters is available on Prime Video, Amazon Freevee, Fandango at Home Free, Fawesome, Plex and Pluto TV.
Where to watch The Babysitters
Stream: Prime Video
Watch free: Amazon Freevee, Fandango at Home Free, Fawesome, Plex, Pluto TV
Rent: Amazon
Buy: Amazon
Cast
- John Leguizamo as Michael Beltran
- Katherine Waterston as Shirley Lyner
- Cynthia Nixon as Gail Beltran
- Andy Comeau as Jerry Tuchman
- Denis O'Hare as Stan Lyner
- Lauren Birkell as Melissa Rowan
- Louisa Krause as Brenda Woodberg
- Halley Wegryn Gross as Nadine Woodberg
- Ann Dowd as Tammy Lyner
- Spencer Treat Clark as Scott Miral
- Jason Dubin as George
- Ethan Phillips as Mark Wessler
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A few thoughts on The Babysitters
The register here is queasy suburban realism, closer to a cautionary character study than a thriller. Viewers drawn to quiet films about compromise, and about the adult worlds teenagers stumble into, will find its discomfort deliberate rather than lurid.
Arrangements that quietly turn into something transactional
The Babysitters turns Shirley's arrangement with a lonely father into a quiet business, and this angle follows that same slide from favor to transaction. My Own Private Idaho and L.I.E. show money changing what a relationship actually is, Matahari trades on the same currency of body and secrecy, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller builds an entire frontier economy around it.
Affairs with a married partner that spiral out of control
David Ross builds The Babysitters around one affair that refuses to stay contained, and this run of dramas follows the same fuse. Damage and Match Point turn a married man's infidelity into a slow-motion wreck, Derailed and Young Adam let one indiscretion drag its characters into blackmail and worse, and Some Velvet Morning circles back to confront what the affair actually cost.
Teenagers pulled into an adult world before they're ready
Shirley is seventeen and already improvising her way through an adult economy, and these stories keep their teenagers in that same unready territory. Kids and Palo Alto watch adolescents test boundaries adults set too late, Hot Summer Nights and Gimme Shelter drop their leads into real consequences fast, and Life Is Strange lets you feel every choice land the way Shirley's does.
Suburbia's polite surface hides something rotten underneath
The Babysitters treats its suburb as a place where nothing is what it looks like, and this set shares that rot under a tidy surface. American Beauty and A History of Violence crack a stable-looking household open from the inside, Flowers in the Attic hides a family's worst secret behind a locked door, and Muriel's Wedding and The Crucible show how fast a town turns on anyone out of line.