Nanny is a State
After her boyfriend proposes, Summer Pratt (Briana Evigan - Once Upon a Holiday) gets to meet his boss, Travis (Peter Porte - A Gift to Remember) and wife, Lily (Ellen Hollman - Sharing Christmas), when they host a surprise engagement party for them. It is whilst at the party that Lily asks Summer, who is an interior designer, to make-over the sitting room for her which. But when Travis and Lily's nanny suddenly leaves it leads to Summer agreeing to look after their young daughter, Sophie (Sophie Guest - Fatal Defense). But Sophie is an unusuals child who doesn't talk much other than to what seems to be an imaginary friend, has burns and cuts on her whilst also sleeps with scissors under her pillow. It leads to Summer beginning to question what is going on in the home and whether or not Sophie is safe let alone if Travis and Lily are really her parents.
"The Good Nanny" feels like it was written by someone well versed in TV movies and what audiences expect from the usual collection of plots as in how the usual stories tend to play out. As such during the set-up to "The Good Nanny" we have a few peculiar things going on as Summer not only has visions but has trouble with becoming pregnant, Travis and Lily don't see like typical parents and certainly don't seem to care about Sophie. And of course Sophie is a little creepy with her talking to imaginary friends whilst also telling Summer strange things about Travis and Lily. It basically sets up a few possibilities for where this movie could go and in doing so allows fans of this sort of movie to jump to some conclusions, although with Briana Evigan being the nice character in this movie you kind of push one possible narrative to the side.
Now I am not going to tell you which way "The Good Nanny" goes because it features a few twists and turns which keeps things interesting. What also keeps things interesting are the performances with Ellen Hollman delivering a bubbly performance full of energy but with a touch of darkness which makes us unsure about her. Who we are also unsure of is Sophie and young Sophie Guest certainly knows how to deliver some straight faces which when combined with the editing make her effectively creepy and at times reminded me a little of Elle Fanning. And then there is Briana Evigan who delivers Summer as the good girl of the movie with an air of wisdom about her when not only dealing with children but also Sophie's parents yet at the same time she gives Summer a slightly mysterious side. All of which along with Peter Porte playing Travis in quite a dominant way combines to give "The Good Nanny" this interesting collection of characters and an intriguing atmosphere.
What this all boils down to is that "The Good Nanny" is one of a few recent Lifetime movies which are a cut above the norm thanks to the combination of stronger than normal acting and a storyline which doesn't serve up everything on a plate whilst also having various possibilities for where it is going to go.
