23/03/2012: The Sitter [2011]

The Sitter is a refreshingly original comedy about a failed college student who takes a job babysitting the kids next door in order to help his mother out. Starring Jonah Hill, who is quite the rising star as a comedian, The Sitter of course gets up to some shenanigans as he tries to take care of three very interesting children.





Noah Griffith (Hill), is a washed up college drop out living with his mother, jobless, relationship problems, you name it Noah's future isn't looking bright. So his mother convinces him to babysit a friends kids to help her out. What ensues is actually, what I found to be a very original comedy filled with some, interesting if mildly tasteless humor.

I did watch the un-rated edtion of this movie, but unlike the poster below, they never went to a strip club, or maybe I blinked? They do however get mixed up in a robbery, a bar mitzvah, a couple of parties, destroy a few restaurants and anger the local drug dealer. As this occurs Noah of course mature from his irresponsible beginning to a more morally sounds character.

On a random side note, didn't pop-tarts start as a breakfast food? I mean rainbow cookie isn't a breakfast pastry, it's just a large rectangular cookie.

Is that Mr. T?!

The above scene is perhaps one of the funniest, although completely unexplained. I could have included a screenshot of Noah covered in cocaine, but I had one last week. Also noticeable here is that The Sitter is the last movie with Jonah Hill before he lost all that weight. Good for him. Another interesting trivia fact about The Sitter is that the phone number (above poster) is in fact Jonah Hills real number, and you would get a recorded message or Hill himself, in or out of character.

Come on, no kid wears truck pajamas with cowboy boots. He should be wearing cowboy pajamas.

The three kids are of course the main support for the protagonist, and these children did particularly well as actors. Their characters are all rather funny and exaggerated, but  Rodrigo clearly takes the cake. The rest of the cast does well also.

I won't say much else in order not to ruin the movie. I thought it was original, although some say it is rather predictable. I think I just haven't watched enough comedies lately. I predicted most of The Hunger Games, which seemed pretty textbook, I guess I just don't have the comedy textbook yet. Either way if comedies are your thing, check out The Sitter, don't expect to much but maybe it will surprise you.

Link:
The Sitter IMDB