Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
46
(34 sources)
46
(34 sources)
-
75
TV Guide
Berman and Pulcini, who turned Harvey Pekar's graphic memoir into the visually inventive, Oscar-nominated "American Splendor," dress this film as an anthropological field diary and add several fabulous touches. Read Full Review » -
75
Miami Herald
A late-summer delight, a sleek, handsomely made bauble buoyed by a cast much stronger than the flimsy material deserves. Read Full Review » -
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
The film belongs to Linney, whose caustic putdowns and status-seeking veneer barely hides her genuine hurt over her husband's philandering and her distant relationship to her own child. No doubt her diaries would be more compelling than the nanny's. Read Full Review » -
70
Time
Something of an odd-duck movie. It is not a broad comedy or a wildly romantic one, either. Nor is it Edith Wharton lite. But it does partake of all those modes in intelligently observant ways. Read Full Review » -
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Although Johansson has a knack for nailing most roles, the angry yet fun-loving nanny doesn't quite work for her. Read Full Review » -
63
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63
Charlotte Observer
Johansson, hair dyed brown to make her seem less glamorous, spices up this bland role. Read Full Review » -
63
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63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
There's a good movie buried inside The Nanny Diaries, and a good cast trying hard to dig it out. Too bad they don't get much help. Read Full Review » -
60
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50
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50
New York Daily News
Despite some clever early fantasy scenes, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's adaptation of best seller The Nanny Diaries won't make Bridget Jones give up her writing. Read Full Review » -
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Satire should be knife-sharp and whip-smart, and The Nanny Diaries never is. Read Full Review » -
50
Chicago Tribune
They should've thrown everything away except the title and the outline. That's what the "Devil Wears Prada" creative team did, and that film turned out a lot richer than this one. Read Full Review » -
50
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50
Washington Post
Linney -- this has happened too much to her -- is once again the best thing in a movie that at most achieves a certain mediocrity. Read Full Review » -
50
The New York Times
Because The Nanny Diaries is essentially a two-character story whose supporting players are wooden props, it would help if the actors playing the two were evenly matched. But Ms. Johansson's Annie, who narrates the movie in a glum, plodding voice, is a leaden screen presence, devoid of charm and humor. Read Full Review » -
50
The Hollywood Reporter
The comedy has several inspired moments and a genuine flair for the satiric, but overall the film leaves you cold. Read Full Review » -
50
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50
Village Voice
Like the book, the Nanny Diaries movie never finds a dramatic center. Read Full Review » -
50
Slate
Watching the movie is a nonexperience--like the Upper East Side apartment where most of the action takes place, it's lavishly appointed but joyless. Read Full Review » -
50
Los Angeles Times
The social bite of the popular novel fades into a generic chick flick. Read Full Review » -
50
USA Today
The very rich are different from you and me. And much worse. That's basically the message of the disappointingly banal Nanny Diaries, a film that is even more lightweight and clichéd than the fluff that was the best-selling book. Read Full Review » -
50
Baltimore Sun
Reading this book and watching this movie, as with "The Devil Wears Prada" a year earlier, I'm convinced that chick-lit books are formula - and chick-lit movies are baby formula. Read Full Review » -
50
Boston Globe
The movie's banal fantasies badly chafe any anthropological consideration of what a girl should do with her career. This isn't life. It's Lifetime. Read Full Review » -
50
Chicago Reader
The characters are instantly reversible--the bratty kid turns out to be a sweetie pie, the mother just needs to be told off. Only Giamatti, as the cliched businessman husband, is irredeemable. Read Full Review » -
42
Entertainment Weekly
For a light comedy, The Nanny Diaries turns out to have an off-putting theme. It glorifies the romance of slumming. Read Full Review » -
40
New York Magazine
As you watch the nannies mistreated and the children left to cry themselves to sleep, the only surprise is that there are no surprises. It's zombie-land. Read Full Review » -
40
The New Yorker
The material has been turned into a trivially narcissistic product for teen-age girls who want to feel indignant about wrongs they are unlikely to suffer. Read Full Review » -
38
Premiere
The supporting players do a serviceable job in their roles, but no amount of Oscar-nominee nuance from Giamatti or Linney can salvage what amounts to a candy-striped trifle for post-collegiate slacker existentialists. Read Full Review » -
30
Wall Street Journal
So tightly constructed of clichés, stereotypes and chick-lit tropes that it's inert; no fresh air can blow in. Read Full Review » -
30
Austin Chronicle
An awful lot of good talent has been squandered in this by-the-numbers film. Read Full Review » -
25
San Francisco Chronicle
There's something painful about watching Scarlett Johansson, who looks as if she never had an indecisive moment in her life, struggle to seem ineffectual. Read Full Review » -
12
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