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At first glance one may misconstrue The Nanny Diaries as a re-hashing of last year’s The Devil Wears Prada. But instead of Anne Hathaway as the green assistant to the overbearing boss played by Meryl Streep, we get a sweet fresh-out-of-college Scarlett Johansson playing nanny for the neurotic Upper East Side mom played by Laura Linney. At second glance, that is exactly what The Nanny Diaries turned out to be. Thankfully though, both flicks turned out to be very enjoyable.

As mentioned before, Johansson plays Annie Braddock, an NYU business grad who embarks on her journey into the real world, only to find that she really doesn’t have any idea what she wants to do with herself. So against the advice of both her mother (Donna Murphy) and her best friend (Alicia Keys), Annie stumbles into the world of uptown nannies. She soon finds out that she has embedded herself with the family from hell and that distractions can be found all around her. One particular distraction is a good looking guy who lives down the hall from her new employers, played by Chris Evans.

If it sounds too familiar, that is because it is a very simple story of “girl meets world”, something we have seen quite often. But the uniqueness of The Nanny Diaries shines through the performances and the method in which the narrative is presented. The story is told through Annie’s eyes as an anthropological study, an almost scientific look into the world of the dysfunctional uptown family. This keeps the story moving in a quite well, leaving no dead spots for the minds of the audience to wander. Kudos to the directorial/screenwriting team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who previously teamed up on American Splendor.

The performances are also extremely solid, with Scarlett Johansson leading the way in her first major star vehicle. Sure she was good in the abysmal Black Dahlia and she was enticing in Woody Allen’s Match Point, but this is the first time I have really seen her carry a film, or at least a good film.

Laura Linney is also deviously entertaining as a loopy and overly demanding Uptown mom. It is every bit of Linney’s better performances (such as Love Actually) infused with a terrifyingly convincing arrogance. Balancing the comedic arrogance with some serious dramatic tension, Linney was a perfect choice for the role. Paul Giamatti also turns in another solid performance as Linney’s self-centered, philandering husband.

The performances are good, the story is told in a smooth manner and ultimately The Nanny Diaries is a pretty easy choice for a date night. For the ladies, it is the date night payback for movies like Transformers and Superbad. We know that you’ve been looking for such a film. But don’t worry guys, for us there is 2 hours of gratuitous Scarlett Johansson action. And while she remains clothed, she is still absolutely smokin’ hot. The film isn’t bad, either.

The only downside is that the film feels very familiar and delivers a very simple story. But just like The Devil Wears Prada last year, The Nanny Diaries is a sweet, intelligent winner.

The Upside: Johansson and Linney deliver great performances and the story is delivered in a creative, upbeat way.

The Downside: The story feels like something we’ve seen before, but that is manageable.

On the Side: Scarlett Johansson applied to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for the fall 2003 semester, but was not accepted. Oddly enough, she plays an NYU grad in the film.