The Babysitters (2007): Mostly BS

David Ross writes and directs this strange film (off a cliff) about the mutual discontentment of high school girls and married men. I was humored by the opening quarter of the film, but ultimately confused and disappointed by the whole picture. But is there a whole picture here? The premise develops between the two major characters (one being John Leguizamo, of whom I am a fan) but then the misguided resolution smacks it off course. The result is a three-headed hydra that thinks it is a fire-breathing dragon. At times, this film reflects the work of Larry Clark, but doesn't allow much natural process or thought to explain the actions of its characters.

All it winds up doing is chipping away at an iceberg (a concept that requires far more elaboration) that never truly melts into tea. Whether this film was meant to be hot or iced, or even tea at all, is impossible to say from the 90 minute run-time. I honestly would've preferred sweet tea (the cute bond between Leguizamo & Waterston), something akin to The Panic in Needle Park, but I was left moved, but only intermittently, as if half of my mind was still trying to explain what happened elsewhere in the film--or better yet--why something happened (because it made zero sense) at all.

I don't know what they were shooting at because it seems they failed to load the gun. All I received was "corruption has terrible effects on confused people", i.e. "greed corrupts", but in today's age, a film has to offer more--something deeper--and this film failed to do it. Why? Because in-between creating that simple concept of corruption's harm, it threw in other foreign elements that didn't belong or contribute at all.