2.5 out of 5 stars (Decent)
This review was requested by Michael Deak. Thanks for keeping the laughs coming.
Growing up, I had two fabulous babysitters. They would play action figures with me, dress up barbies with my younger sister, and keep us entertained until our parents got home from Bunco. I can almost assure you my babysitters did not engage in anything like the title character in Netflix’s horror-comedy The Babysitter, a film that attempts to combine the raunchy humor of Superbad with bloody murder, to mixed results.
Bulled 12-year-old Cole (Judah Lewis) has few friends and parents (Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino) on the brink of divorce. Thankfully, he also has sexy babysitter Bee (Samara Weaving) to look forward to whenever his parents go out. One night, one of Cole’s neighbors convinces him to stay up late and see what Bee does when he goes to sleep, only to discover she and a group of her Forgettable Supporting Character Friends (Robbie Amell, YouTube star Andrew Bachelor, Bella Thorne, Doug Haley, and Hanna Mae Lee) plan to kill him so they may use his pure blood for a vaguely defined Satanic ritual. Now, Cole must find his inner strength and fight back to survive the night.
The Babysitter is the definition of serviceable. Serviceable acting, serviceable jokes, and serviceable gore (the latter being the film’s strongest point). The performers do what is required, the pacing is brisk, and there are some decent song choices. However, director McG (Charlie’s Angels) inserts distracting style into the piece, such as text graphics randomly popping up on screen and bizarre camerawork. The gags have about a 50/50 hit to miss ratio, and the gore could have been increased. Thankfully, The Babysitter’s 80-minute runtime goes by quickly, fading from your memory as the credits roll. See it if you like 80’s gore or basic raunchy humor, but this is one Babysitter I wouldn’t tip extra.
Likely would have been Rated R for Language, Sexual Humor, and Bloody Violence