The Sitter (2011)

It’s been difficult for film fans to accept the transformation of David Gordon Green. At first, he made critically-lauded art films such as George Washington, All the Real Girls and Snow Angels. However, this all changed in 2008, when he directed the stoner comedy hit Pineapple Express. Since then, it’s been nothing but R-rated slacker comedies. Earlier this year he made the dreadful Your Highness, and now he teams up with Jonah Hill in The Sitter. While it’s a definite improvement over Highness—faint praise, I know—it still seems distressingly sloppy. It’s a by-the-numbers raunchfest that features a handful of funny gags, and for a while it’s a genuine good time, but it falls apart in the third act once it becomes clear that no involved cared much about delivering anything substantive. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to become a comedy director, but a guy as talented as Green needs to at least try and do something special with it.

The film stars Jonah Hill as himself, or at as least another variation on his typical profane slacker character. One night he is assigned the duty of babysitting three unruly kids: a wannabe Kardashian (Landry Bender), a shy 13-year-old (Max Records) and the adopted Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez). When Hill’s girlfriend (Ari Graynor) promises to sleep with him, he takes the kids on a memorable trip through New York City. Along the way they get in trouble with authorities, a car thief, and a certifiably insane drug dealer named Karl (Sam Rockwell). Just about all of it is incredibly predictable, and it ultimately leads up to an ending that feels like it was thrown together at the last possible moment.

It’s a disappointing ending to a film that otherwise has several moments of inspired silliness. Just about all of these come courtesy of Rockwell, who seems to really be enjoying himself as the constantly coked-up Karl. The film is best when it fully implants itself in Karl’s world, which is chock-full of zany side characters and some memorable dialogue. While the rest of The Sitter attempts to take place in some kind of real world, Karl lives in what can best be described as an underground lair straight out of Immortals. Once we leave this atmosphere and head back onto the New York streets, the movie feels rather dull by comparison. Hill mostly keeps it on the right side of the funny/frustrating line, but only when Rockwell’s onscreen does it feel like the movie is close to reaching its full potential. I do want to stress that I thought the kids’ work in this movie was pretty fantastic, including a wonderful and engaging turn from the 14-year-old Records. For those who don’t know, he was the lead in Spike Jonze’s woefully underappreciated Where the Wild Things Are. This kid needs to be a star as soon as possible.

The biggest difference between The Sitter and Green’s last film Your Highness is that at least this one feels directed; like some effort was put into its creation. Where Highness felt like it was held together with scotch tape—and like it was shot on a Flip camera by an inebriate—The Sitter at least has some form and style to it. However, it all comes crashing down in a horrid final act which introduces several unneeded elements, drags one needless scene on for eons, and ends the plot in the most contrived way possible. (There’s also a romance introduced that makes Avatar seem like a clinic in character development.) At that point I realized: this movie is just a phone-in. It doesn’t have the memorable chaos that made Pineapple Express so great, nor does it have much dialogue that people are going to be quoting for years to come. It’s just a minor entry in what is becoming a tired genre, and the people involved are too talented to spend their time making movies like this.

Grade: C+