Overrated and overhyped

Best movie ever!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

High schooler Shirley Lyner (Katherine Waterston) babysits for Michael (John Leguizamo) and Gail Beltran (Cynthia Nixon). Shirley starts making out with Michael and then have sex. Michael lets out the secret to his friend and word spreads. Shirley recruits her eager friend Melissa Rowan. Next it's quiet Brenda. They start a business called The Babysitters. Brenda brings in her stepsister Nadine who starts her own competing service with other girls.It's salacious without any redeeming value. It treats the material with no intention of being anything better. It has neither any satire nor any tension. This is not a serious treatment of this creepy subject matter. It's basically nothing. Waterston shows some interesting shades at times in this early work but there is nothing else.

This movie is both entertaining and highly unsatisfying; as unsure of itself as the teenage girls it depicts. There does not seem to be an overall direction and there is little in terms of a climax. No pun intended, because the frequent sex scenes are among the film's most entertaining sequences.Almost every act committed by those in the film is immoral, illegal, or a terrible mixture of the two. Grown adults, ranging from lonely elderly perverts to unhappily married businessmen, purchase time with teenage girls running a prostitution ring disguised as a babysitting business. The film attempts to focus on the internal struggle of both the men and girls involved, but does little to form any kind of moral compass along the way. As the movie progresses, you grow to dislike the greedy ringleader as well as the married men her clique sleeps with.Due to the lack of a leading protagonist, we are left with no one to cheer for. The only thing to look forward to is some kind of justice, some kind of reprehension or punishment for the acts committed. That does not happen. The ending is, to say the least, highly disappointing and resolves no questions nor concludes the movie properly.This is the kind of film that demands a satisfying ending, but in the end, the viewer is left with more questions than answers. As far as we know, everyone involved manages to forget about the ordeal and move on. Perhaps the viewer should do the same with this film.

I enjoy films which present the viewer with multiple threads to consider and this is certainly one of those. 1. All Men Are Pigs – Every male character in the film is portrayed in the least flattering light possible. John Leguizamo's character, arguably the most understandable, if not likable, is an indifferent father who floats along in his marriage and his affair choosing paths of least resistance every time. Even Brenda's teen brother Scott, who starts out as a shy and endearing character quickly becomes a judgmental little creep. 2. To Cheat or Not To Cheat – Michael and Gail Beltran do a poor job in addressing the problems in their marriage. Michael seems to be the partner who makes the attempt to confront their issues but it's a halfhearted attempt at best and is easily swept aside by Gail running off to an unscheduled NA meeting. No wonder when Michael strays! 3.Women Are Greedy and Backstabbing – Nadine certainly is but she's the primary one with this foible and she already seemed to present as a pampered spoiled bitch anyway! Hardly deserving of elevation to a central theme in the film! 4. If they're Old Enough To Die For their Country – How old is old enough? To me, this is the central theme of the film. Justice vs. the Rule of Law. Our society has established an often arbitrary and almost always capricious series of numerical boundaries to substitute for common sense and fairness under our law-based system. Its okay to enlist and die for one's country at 17 but you can't have a legal drink at 20. Practically every county had its own BAC limit until the federal statute was forced down everyone's throats mandating the .080 limit. It's illegal to photograph the bare buttocks of a 17-year-old but a flesh colored thong is okay on a 10-year-old. We've executed teens at 16, 17, and 18, but whether you were eligible for the death penalty depended on where you committed your crime. You can hire an 18-year-old to shoot a porn movie in your garage but pick up a 17-year-old in a bar drinking on an illegal ID and you go to prison. While I disagree with Shirley about the similarities between paid fellatio and burger flipping, I find I am loathe to condemn her efforts at earning extra college money if I am forced to use as my only basis for condemnation the potential legal consequences for her clients. 5. Don't Do Drugs - Hmmm… Maybe this is an anti-drug movie since they're portrayed as being at the root of the Beltran's marital problems as well as a primary precipitant in Brenda's breakdown and the decline and fall of the babysitters company.Definitely worth a nod, I give it a solid '8'… almost a '9'! I do know that I'm already looking forward to Ms. Waterston's next effort.

OK, there is something slightly sleazy about watching a movie featuring high school girls making money providing sex to dads.Michael (John Leguizamo) and his wife (Cynthia Nixon) are falling into routine, and she is not interested in his hobby. His job is becoming a bore. He and the babysitter (Katherine Waterston) fall into an illicit relationship.Soon, Shirly (Waterston) gets her friends into babysitting for $200 a pop and takes a cut.One of the girls (Louisa Krause) wants out and things go to hell.Waterston was really good, and I always enjoy Leguizamo in anything he does.