Babysitter's Black Book

Not too bad for an 'awareness' film. It definitely depicts the good and bad that can happen in these particular circumstances, BUT... So much time seemed to be spent on setting the scene (i.e. making sure the audience knows how stunning the cast is - which they totally are!) and I felt more time could have been spent on the film's pinnacle moments. It would've had a much more lasting impact. Towards the end it felt rushed - like I had to put pieces together to figure out what was going on, and it didn't seem to be a realistic time line. I've seen a few other movies with the same type of themes - albeit much more raunchy and seductive in comparison to Babysitter's Black Book - and those others I was hooked into watching right to the end, where as this one only made me want to watch it to the end to know how it all miserably played out. It was a really good idea for a film, especially with kids these days growing up way too fast - shows them how even the most glamorous lifestyles and mistakes do come with a price. It highlights the issues with America's Higher Education System and what it causes families and individuals to be pushed to do. Worth the watch, something I would be able to recommend to someone, but it isn't something I'd choose to watch again.

"Babysitter's Black Book" was evidently based on a true story about four enterprising high school students who started a group called "Family Buddies." The team of four young women swapped babysitting duties to earn extra money in preparation for college. Then, one member of the group decided to diversify, turning it into a lucrative call girl operation. "Family Buddies" was initially Ashley's idea. But it was Rachel whose brilliant idea it was to start pulling tricks. Gilli was the member who refused to participate. But Ashley and Janet went along with Rachel's plan. Inevitably, the truth came out with disastrous consequences for all parties. In the main subplot, Ashley links up with Mark while serving as babysitter to his children. Mark makes promises of paying Ashley's tuition at Pressman College in return for a long-term "arrangement." Ashley backs out of the deal when Mark becomes jealous and controlling. Ashley also has a rival at school named Harper, who is competing for admittance to Pressman. After Ashley is accepted and Harper is wait-listed, Harper retaliates by blowing the cover of the Family Buddies operation. It was surprising that Rachel was given jail time, while Mark was let off with a slap on the wrist. But apparently the filmmakers were attempting to be faithful to the true story. They also sympathetically portrayed the plight of gifted high school students for whom too much pressure was placed on gaining admittance to elite universities. In the final analysis, Ashley attended community college, and her future actually looks brighter than if she had been accepted at the over-hyped Pressman. Having learned from her mistake, she now has some decent values in her life and a clear direction for the future.

By which I mean formulaic and predictable. Those reviewers who saw moral lessons shown here are deluding themselves. This is just meant for pure mindless entertainment, with a few hot girls thrown in. I would think by now people would know how these movies are structured, and not look for any deep lessons in them, or great film making. Speaking of which, it baffles me as to how anyone can give any of these Lifetime moves a "10" rating. That mean they are as good as anything Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and a dozen other directors I could name have produced? Give me a break. Oh, and another Lifetime move, "Sugar Babies" has much the same theme, only with college girls, not high school girls, and not babysitters. But overall, the same premise. That's another Lifetime standby; use the same plots over and over again, changing some details to make them look different. But hey, look at the number of movies they churn out every year. There is no time for the writers to be very original, so they have a checklist of plot points to use in each movie. I gave this 6 stars. That might be generous.

I don't know if this movie is a remake of 2007 movie, "The Babysitters" starring John Leguizmo & Katherine Waterston or not because they never said so, they just said its a movie with the same premise. So, the premise is really similar, about a bunch of high school girl who work as a babysitter, job doesn't paid well so they just turned to prostitution, the oldest job ever. The only different is this TV movie is more sexier, prettier and hotter. Who cant resist Spencer Locke and Lauren York? One of the reviewer said that this movie is purposeful made to show off this hot girl, hot girl sells right? And I can say its more easy and light to absorb than the movie one. I check the real story, yeah its bad and the worst thing that can happen to our family so I don't think this movie can deliver some moral advice to the audience. I like it, its fun to watch but its just some fun rebellious hot teen movie. No hard feeling.

I liked this movie until a little over half-way through (which is why I gave it a 6 rather than lower). As others have mentioned this seemed more about shaming the girls. The parents of the main girl are terrible. First they wipe out her college fund (really late into the game too so she really had no hope of getting the money to go to the college she was hoping for in such a short time) saying how they hope they'll get loans to pay her back and then when she went to drastic measures (not agreeing with what she did though) they say how disappointed in her and that they didn't raise her that way. Unfortunately what this movie tells us is even in this day and age the girl still seems to take the brunt of the stigma.