Scarlett Johansson starred in 2007's The Nanny Diaries, alongside Laura Linney. The film performed only marginally well at the box office, and was critically-panned. Johansson's reviews were mixed, with Variety saying, "She essays an engaging heroine", while The New Yorker criticized her for looking "merely confused" while "trying to give the material a plausible emotional center". In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle said, "There's something painful about watching Scarlett Johansson, who looks as if she never had an indecisive moment in her life, struggle to seem ineffectual."
