Project: Babysitting - DVD

Film: Franck (Philippe Lacheau) dreams of one day working as a successful comic book artist. But so far, he has only made it as far as a job at the front desk of a comic book publishing house. But he'll do anything for his dream - including babysitting the son of his arrogant boss Marc Schaudel (Gérard Jugnot) on his 30th birthday while he and his Claire (Clotilde Couraeu) go away for the weekend to another prestigious event. But it's not just 11-year-old Rémy (Enzo Tomasini) who is less than thrilled about it. Franck's best friends also don't like the fact that their buddy has to spend his 30th as a babysitter. And so they move his birthday party without further ado to Marc's chic villa. After only a few minutes, the big party threatens to get completely out of hand. But that's nothing compared to the chaos that awaits the babysitter that night...

Project: Babysitting was such a huge success in France that a sequel has already been shot. The turbulent mix of Hangover, Project X and other party comedies, mixed with the coherent chemistry between lead actor (and co-director) Philippe Lacheau and young Enzo Tomasini went down extremely well with audiences. Although the film strictly has no ideas of its own to offer and every scene feels like you've seen it somewhere else before, the comedy works very well for long stretches. The mixture of normal feature film and found footage look is not new either, but it fits pleasingly well for the structure of the story.

The humor is not very subtle and some gags are prepared so clearly that you can actually only smile tiredly when they are executed. As a result, the really big laughs are sadly absent. However, that doesn't mean that the movie isn't fun to watch. That's because the actors are quite likeable and it's skillfully avoided that the gags drift too much into tastelessness. So the turbulent hustle and bustle has a pleasantly engaging charm, despite some of the jokes, which consoles over some of the weaknesses. As a viewer, you know exactly where the journey is going and what message the film wants to convey. Nevertheless, you like to accompany Franck and Rémy through the wild night and are happy when you realize that the two slowly become friends after initial difficulties.

Project: Babysitting is thus simply knitted comedy entertainment in the best sense of the word. As a viewer, you know exactly what you're getting. And even if that's not surprising, it's served up in such an entertaining and amusing way that the lack of originality is hardly noticeable in a negative way. Moreover, the film sets a pleasant pace, so that tedious moments are avoided very well and boredom doesn't stand a chance. Thus, at the end of the almost 81 minutes remains a consistently positive overall impression, which then allows only one conclusion despite the weaknesses mentioned: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: In the technical implementation of the comedy, there is hardly anything to complain about. While the sound remains rather restrained due to the genre, even in the more powerful DTS mix, the very clean picture can boast a high level of detail and coherent contrasts. However, the digitally shot action feels a bit flat visually in places. The authentic-looking color scheme, on the other hand, underscores the overall positive impression of the picture.

Extras: As a bonus, there is a short making of (approx. 7:45 min.), as well as some amusing outtakes (approx. 5:51 min.) on the DVD. Not much, but overall quite nice.

Conclusion:Project: Babysitting is a turbulent comedy that has stolen almost all the ideas from other films, but serves them up in a fast-paced and relatively charming way, so if you're a fan of comedies like Hangover or Project X, you can definitely have fun with this turbulent party night. The DVD presents the film in appealing picture and sound quality, the extras are nice but a bit short. Overall, however, this is still enough for a satisfied: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp