The Sitter

I finally caught up with Moneyball and Hill’s award nominated performance recently, and that film proves that the man can act and does bring more than a ridiculous attitude to the table. The Sitter however capitalises on what Jonah Hill is best known for, slapstick like scenes, awkward comedic moments and instances where you can’t do anything but cower away from the screen and cringe.

He can’t carry a film as has been proved in the past, he works better as part of an ensemble troop of comedy or as part of a double-act like in the recent 21 Jump Street or even Cyrus. In The Sitter he’s supposed to take the lead but, as is often the case when children are involved they steal the show with their odd antics, baffling personality disorders and complex thought patterns. 

Here Hill plays Noah, a college drop-out who lives off his mum and rarely leaves the sofa, tasked with being helpful for once he winds up being put in charge of the neighbours kids for the evening, a delightful bunch who’ve got more issues than the folks who reside in Arkham Asylum. The eldest is Slater, he’s shy and has a bit of a pill dependency and he’s not even quite in his teens yet, his younger sister is Blithe and she’s some sort of Paris Hilton wannabe and then there is the adopted kid, he’s got a passion for fire, explosions and  generally causing havoc, he goes by the name Rodrigo.

Across the course of this evening , high school bullies will be faced by Noah, there are some awkward family moments, his non-girlfriend (Ari Gaynor) nearly gets him killed due to a bad drugs delivery from Karl (Sam Rockwell) and the whole time the kids are learning a fair few lessons. 

It’s funny,but not consistently, never will you grab your belly and really howl, the jokes aren’t all that new and the majorty of the comedic moments come from the kids as opposed to Hill. Rockwell as a drug dealing werido with a sexuality crisis is worth a look mind. 

Extras:

Sold as the ‘Totally Irresponsible Edition’ so there’s a bit of extra footage, (it’s six minutes longer, still shy of 90 minutes including credits.) Deleted & Extended scenes, three featurettes ‘For Your Consideration with Blithe’, ‘The Making of The Sitter’, ‘Jonah the Producer’,  plus the usual gag reel, and a digital copy of the film – which we’d advise you don’t give to anyone you consider a mate. 

By Amy Gathercole