This was a fairly watchable film. Stephen Collins' character came across as a very nice person, and as with any good mystery, one kept guessing for a while as to "whodunnit," after the other suspect was introduced. (Although once the killer became known, we entered into silly potboiler territory.) I thought Ms. Rashad made for a good detective. And our heroine was very winning. As for the older man-younger woman hook-up that a few reviewers found repulsive, such an outlook is really a curious state of the times. Our extremely youth-oriented society has brainwashed the masses into rejecting practically everyone who is over thirty; it's as though you either must cease to exist as a sexual being once you reach a certain age, or you must only be confined to partnering with one in your own age bracket. Even if there's a young person of legal, consenting age, people have now been trained to believe -- perhaps because the media has sometimes built the sex offender issue to a fever pitch, and some people think they are doing their "moral duty" -- there is something unethical about an age gap between lovers. I just watched the 1937 movie, ALGIERS, where the young and beautiful Hedy Lamarr was engaged to an older ogre of a man who was much more hideous than Stephen Collins, and yet the alliance seemed fairly natural; yes, in this case, she was in it for his money (an allure for our heroine in "The Babysitter's Seduction" as well, although the babysitter did develop genuine feelings for the man), but that was Hedy Lamarr's choice, just as it was Anna Nicole Smith's in real life, years later. Stepping aside from the lure of the sugar daddy, and entering the realm of genuinely "equal" relationships, it's a pity people have become uptight, and regard age as more than a number. Years back, there was more normalcy about accepting older people as regular human beings.

I totally love Keri Russell, so I had to check this out if only to see her past "indiscretions" vis-à-vis movie scripts. I enjoyed this film and thought she gave a strong performance aside for a few scenes, though it's a TV movie and some fairly obvious flaws have to be expected. Stephen Collins has always come off to me as a sleazebag, so I guess this role worked for me. Still tough to see him on screen next to a 20-year-old. I'd agree that Phylicia Rashad fell flat as a piece of cardboard compared to the other characters. If you enjoy an occasional melodrama complete with yelling at your television, this is an enjoyable guilty pleasure.

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS (and may contain PEANUTS!)If you're in the mood for a formulaic hour and 40-some minutes of less than satisfactory acting and a storyline that a two-year-old could figure out, then this is the movie for you. To say that anything I will include in this review is a SPOILER is actually quite laughable, since this movie is outrageously predictable.There are no surprises here. None. Pretty, young babysitter gets drawn into the "perfect life" of the family that employs her. The mom/wife commits suicide ... oh, or does she??? No, it turns out she has been -- sit down! -- MURDERED!!! Who could have seen that coming? And who could have foreseen the dad/husband's seduction of the pretty, young babysitter and subsequent attempt at framing the babysitter for the murder?Of course, to throw us off the track, the wife's lover is thrown into the mix. But never do we really suspect him. Indeed, he is less of a FOIL than he is transparent SARAN WRAP!The best performance in this movie comes from P. Rashad's character's dog, who thankfully escapes harm in one of the most overdone scenes ever to hit the small screen: a gas range turned on full blast, and ... well, you can figure it out.If you can't figure it all out, and you'll still wondering GEE, WHODUNNIT??? then by all means watch this movie. If you think Keri Russell is cute, then by all means watch this movie. If you don't like being surprised, watch this movie.This schlock gets a big "Feh. Kaka."

This movie is so disturbing, only because I saw it after becoming a huge fan of both "Felicity" and "7th Heaven" where all the characters are pretty unfettered. In "Babysitter," Keri Russell plays a promiscuous teen who falls in love with a wealthy, yet sleazy guy (Stephen Collins, who is so un-sleazy as the minister father on 7th Heaven). The guy killed his wife, apparently and tries to seduce the babysitter (Keri Russell) by making her think she is the only woman who can take his dead wife's place. He has this master plan of framing the babysitter for his wife's murder, which I don't get because he had already gotten away with it.The mom from the Cosby Show gives an interesting performance as the wary detective who lives on the beach.The ending is predictable, if not too violent for television. It didn't bore me, but I don't feel like I've changed in any way since seeing this film.