'New Year's Eve' and 'The Sitter' offer alternative to glut of family films

By Sarah Sluis

There's only three more weekends until Christmas, so it's fitting that New Year's Eve (3,505 theatres) is jumping the gun. The romantic comedy may not be getting the best reviews (only 6% of critics gave it a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but it's the only offering in this genre to come out in the next month, so it will have a captive audience. Unlike the $56 million opening weekend of Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve is expected to come in around the teen millions, and then hit close to that number until we ring in 2012.

The Sitter (2,479 theatres) isn't faring much better in the critics department (only 20% positive) but the young males the movie is targeting tend not to pay much attention to reviews. Our critic Marsha McCreadie is one of the comedy's defenders, calling it "sincere and heartwarming," with star Jonah Hill "[delivering] some complicated and tender moments." Plenty of bawdy and law-breaking episodes temper the emotional punch of the movie, which is essentially an R-rated Adventures in Babysitting.

The adaptation of John le Carr's novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (4 theatres) also makes its debut. Viewers unfamiliar with the book "should pay attention," critic Rex Roberts warns. Even James Bond spy movies have viewers scratching their heads at times, but Tinker, Tailor takes confusion to a whole other level. I found individual parts of the movie more fulfilling than the whole. Roberts points out that director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) "has a knack for finding the telling detail�a drop of sweat from a waiter's brow�that evokes the essence of a scene." Indeed, it's moments like these that make the thriller most satisfying.

Charlize Theron stars as Mavis, a more seasoned variation on the evil prom queen, in Young Adult (8 theatres). She goes back to her hometown of Mercury, Minnesota, to steal back her high school boyfriend, now married and father to a newborn. The comedy-drama "walks a tricky line between cynicism and compassion, laughter and tragedy," critic Kevin Lally notes, "letting us both revel in and gasp at Mavis' wildly inappropriate behavior but ultimately generating a modicum of sympathy." I particularly enjoyed the characterization of Mavis as a junk-food eating, Kardashian-obsessed, toy dog owner, Juicy sweats-wearing adult. Screenwriter Diablo Cody makes sure that Mavis' brand of pathetic is both dark and laugh-out-loud funny.

Ever wonder how a truly evil person comes to be? We Need to Talk About Kevin (2 theatres) stars Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly as the parents of a demonic child who later carries out a school shooting. Although many critics have praised the drama, David Noh resented director Lynne Ramsay's "promiscuous auteur-ism." Many have already mentioned Swinton's name as a possible nominee for Best Actress during the Academy Awards.

On Monday, we'll see if New Year's Eve and The Sitter were able to lift the mid-December box office blues. With half of the top ten films targeting family audiences, these movies should help bring in younger and unattached audiences.

Park me in front of 'The Sitter,' please!

By Sarah Sluis

I have rather nostalgic memories of my babysitters, those too-cool teenagers who played with my brother and myself while we ate kid-friendly food like mac 'n cheese and watched a movie. I adored Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead and some of my friends swore similar allegiance to Adventures in Babysitting. And when it came to books, The Babysitter's Club series took up shelves and shelves in the school library--the "Gossip Girl" of my generation. So it's only natural that I would be excited to see the revival of the babysitter movie.

Jonah Hill will star in The Sitter, with David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) directing. The spec script was good enough to spark a bidding war between 20th Century Fox and Paramount (Fox won). Described as Adventures in Babysitting meets Superbad (which Hill starred in), the story follows a suspended college student living at home who gets roped into babysitting three crazy children next door. It's a nice angle: having the rule-breaker be the enforcer for once. The story also brings to mind Hill's upcoming summer movie Get Him to the Greek, which also involves babysitting--except his charge is a rock star. From the trailer, the movie appears to have the right mix of Hill going along for the ride and freaking out about what is going on, so reprising this persona should be a pretty sure thing. Every generation deserves a good babysitting movie, so I will be pleased to see Hill and Green take on the timeworn genre.