The Good Nanny (2017 Lifetime)

The Good Nanny (2017 Lifetime)

Stars: Briana Evigan, Ellen Hollman, Peter Porte, Tatyana Ali

Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!

Synopsis (via Lifetime)

After accepting a nannying job for a young girl named Sophie, Summer Pratt starts to notice just how peculiar she is, and how indifferent Sophie’s parents are to her strange behavior. Concerned about Sophie’s well-being, Summer starts to suspect something is very wrong with the beautiful, wealthy couple that call themselves her parents.

Thoughts

A woman, Summer, strolls through her house at night. A little girl named Sophie stands outside in the rain screaming in a window as a terrifying masked figure grabs her. Then we get the title card.

Summer is a nice lady who shares her ice cream with random kids. Clint, her boyfriend, is so taken with her generosity that he proposes to her under a pergola. Then, they have a sex scene where Summer looks at the ring more than Clint’s hot bod. They talk about making a baby, which is decidedly not sexy. They are in love, though, so I guess it is cute. Straight people, please explain.

Some past trauma is coming to the surface because Summer has terrible nightmares about babies. Did she have miscarriages in the past?

At a dinner date with Clint’s boss, Travis, and his wife, Lily, surprise them with a posh engagement party. Tatyana Ali is there, and I’m like, “WHAT! I LOVE HER.” She is relegated to the best friend role here and talks with Summer. (More like mumbles. No clue what was said here.) I think Summer is talking shit about Lily. They also notice a child looking out the window named Sophie. Summer starts to feel ill at the party and has to leave early. Tatyana Ali is also a doctor and determined that Summer suffered from a miscarriage, but she still will be able to have kids someday.

Summer is hired to design a space in Lily’s house. Sophie lurks around and seems shy. Lily explains that Sophie doesn’t like people. When the nanny quits, Lily hires Summer to pull double duty as an interior designer/nanny. Behind a closed door, Summer hears Sophie talking to her imaginary friend at a creepy tea set. Then Sophie shares that a long line of nannies have come and gone because they were “afraid.” Later, the parents inform Summer that Sophie has a skin condition and can’t go outside. They think she is bipolar and has emotional problems but won’t take Sophie to a therapist because they are embarrassed.

In the middle of the night, Lily and Travis have sex in the kitchen. While they are getting it on, Lily grabs a knife and hides it on a high shelf.

After some bizarre interactions with Sophie, Summer does some research on her laptop and, wait for it, ROLODEX! Later, she finds Lily on a stripper website for a club in Sacramento. Travis almost catches her, but instead tells her he is going for a swim. Then he attempts his best sexy pool exit, but it just isn’t. Haha. I’ve seen Peter Porte in Hallmark flicks, but he is not doing it for me here. Travis makes a pass at summer, but she rejects his advances.

Summer continues her investigation and visits the old nanny Marie. Marie is afraid of Travis and legal repercussions for speaking out. Marie shares that she thinks the parents are hurting their child. She also casually mentions Sophie sleeping with a knife. Summer is then kicked out and more confused than ever.

Lily parties too hard on booze and pills. Summer also finds scars on Sophie’s body. She pulled a pot of hot water on herself as a young child. Tatyana Ali calls summer and confirms that she thinks Sophie is being abused and isn’t their child. Someone named Tara gets a call from the pediatrician’s office.

Tara packs a back and gets Lily’s address; they are sisters. Lily took Sophie out for pizza and never returned. Tara fell on hard times when her husband died. She has a new boyfriend now, and he is fine as hell!

Summer and Sophie decide to hide at a beach house to get her away from her parents. Lily and Travis catch them and stops Summer from taking their kid. Lily cries and explains that Tara is the bad parent. She threw hot boiling water on her daughter and had been looking for them for years. That is why they won’t let her out of the house.

Tara finds the house and takes out Travis first. (Like he dead.) Then she looks for Sasha, that is Sophie’s real name, and kidnaps her. She is the person in the scary mask at the beginning of the movie. Summer wakes up, was it all a dream? Maybe not, because Lily calls and wants to know where Sophie is. No one notices Travis is dead or sees his body covered with a sheet.

Sophie is taken to the beach house. When she asks Tara why she kidnapped her, Tara shouts, “Because you’re mine!” Summer and Lily rush to the beach house and create a plan of action. Lily will try to reason with Tara while Summer sneaks up from behind with a tire iron. The plan works out. Summer gets Sophie and the sister fight. Summer comes back and takes Tara out with the tire iron. They run down the beach, and Tara follows them with a gun. It is a beach, so Tat takes her shot and hits Lily. Lily lays dying on the beach as Sophie cries over her. Tara calls for them to bring Sophie to her.

Summer gets very close to Tara to pass off the child and stabs her with a knife. Summer and Sophie hold each other on the beach as the camera fades.

Flash to a pregnant Summer eating ice cream with Clint and Sophie. They are a happy family. Summer reads a bedtime story to Sophie and she is finally happy.

Side Note

Minority Report: Monica, Marie, Theresa

Briana Evigan‘s whisper talking in this movie was so hard to decipher. The girl needs to learn about diction, is she Lifetime’s Ariana Grande?

Written and directed by my fav Jake Helgren.

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Overall rating

🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)