Seventeen-year-old Shirley is a good student who works as a babysitter in order to make money for college. One night Michael, a father Shirley works for, confesses he's unhappy with married life. Shirley has a crush on Michael, and seizes this moment to kiss him. Michael is so happy he presents Shirley with a big tip, which gives her an idea. Shirley plans to make extra money by setting up her teenage friends with other unhappy fathers.
I'd call it a depressing soft-core porn flick, but that overstates its titillation factor. Mainly it's just icky.
– Kyle Smith,
New York Post,
9 May 2008
rotten:
Although the film is pitched as dark comedy, there's nothing very funny about the sexualization of teenagers.
– Stephen Whitty,
Newark Star-Ledger,
9 May 2008
rotten:
The script has a stale air, like something that was doing the rounds for a long time before David Ross found backers to make a film out of it.
– Susan Walker,
Toronto Star,
9 May 2008
rotten:
Until it crosses a shadowy line dividing serious comedy from distasteful exploitation, The Babysitters has the makings of an incisive satire of greed and lust in suburbia.
– Stephen Holden,
New York Times,
9 May 2008
rotten:
It's bad enough that writer-director David Ross indulges in the very perverse kind of Lolita-tinged titillation the film pretends to lament, but then he ties everything up with an oh-well shrug.