“The Devil Has a Nanny” should have been the title of this “Devil Wears Prada” knock-off that squanders the talents of everyone associated.
Writing/directing team Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (“American Splendor”) never get in tune beneath the voice-over narration of wanna-be-Manhattanite-anthropologist Annie Braddock.
Upper East Side piece-of-work Mrs. X (Laura Linney) sizes Annie up for nanny work when they unexpectedly meet in the relative calm of Central Park.
Annie takes the job of Fifth Avenue live-in nanny to Mrs. X’s son Grayer (Nicholas Reese Art) as a way to practice some covert social study while giving her New Jersey-based mom (Donna Murphy) the slip.
With names like “Mr. & Mrs. X,” the filmmakers don’t know whether to push the satire or pull back and hope the actors pull the piece together
Nothing clicks as nanny Annie gets sexy with her new neighbor (called Harvard Hottie – Chris Evans), and finds out more than she wanted to know about the adulterous Mr. X (Paul Giamatti.)
Rated PG-13. 96 mins.