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Nursery University

Play trailer Poster for Nursery University 2008 1h 30m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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82% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
The adults throw more tantrums than the toddlers in this documentary about a recent phenomenon: wealthy families battling to get their children into expensive, elite preschools. A recent baby boom in New York City has led to fewer available slots and more desperation than ever before, and ruthless parents consent to pay a fortune in tuition. The film follows five different families as they struggle through this competitive process and receive a rigorous education of their own.

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Nursery University

Critics Reviews

View All (11) Critics Reviews
Melvin Backman The New Yorker Class anxiety radiates from almost every frame. Apr 11, 2019 Full Review Nell Minow Movie Mom Rated: B+ Feb 14, 2012 Full Review Rafer Guzman Newsday There's wicked fun in watching the wealthy sweat the small stuff, but this documentary has empathy for parents of all incomes. Rated: 3/4 May 7, 2009 Full Review Kam Williams NewsBlaze A riveting expose' of what looks an awful lot like child abuse in the name of quality education. What's next, an SAT test for newborns? Rated: 4/4 Apr 22, 2009 Full Review Jennifer Merin About.com Watching success-crazed NYC parents in a frenzy to place their toddlers in swank preschools that 'feed' the little darlings into the Ivy League is compelling and scary--like swimming with sharks. Rated: 3.5/5 Apr 15, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (22) audience reviews
Audience Member Never a more faithful picture of what is like to be a New Yorker. Sadly, Juliana as talented as she is has a great chance to end up working for Goldman Sachs. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member As interesting as the movie is, the subject of this film is really, really disturbing. Numerous times throughout I had to say to myself "wow, this really exists, this is real. People are really dropping $10-20,000 for freaking pre-school. Everything they do just to get an application ... the stress, the anxiety... and for what? To get into these elite schools where allegedly you are on a path to a high-end college. Whatever. If anything the movie might help the chances of people getting into these schools because I can't imagine anyone with a child (or planning to have a child) would want to go within 100 miles of that chaos. As much as I was disgusted with the process, and most of the people in it, I still found it to be really interesting Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member interesting documentary about the craziness of Manhattan's private preschools Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member "Nursery University" reeks of inauthenticity and suffers from an obvious lack of participation from its intended well-connected blue-blood subjects. Instead, we get: Aleta St. James, a single mother with twins whose son has some learning issues that will preclude her from applying to any competitive programs for either of her children. A chill downtown couple who, if not directly coaxed into entering the admissions fray for the sake of the movie, were certainly not the type of rabid parents the film purported to be about. The resolution to their story only reinforced my belief that they weren't serious "game players." A wealthy but unconnected (and not unlikeable) Upper East Side couple whose voracious research was mildly interesting. A lower-income woman whose best friend, an admissions consultant, had what seemed to be a strong working relationship with the head of the only school the woman's child applied to. Heidi Moon, whose story is the only one that comes close to reflecting the admissions hysteria the directors hoped to convey. A rich NYC-outsider with no alumni connections to top nursery schools, it is both uncomfortable and grossly satisfying to watch a woman used to getting her way squirm and sweat her way through a relentless quest to secure what she believes she is entitled to. Most irritating (and also, as is the case throughout the film, most entertaining), was Gabriella Rowe of the Mandel School, the only admissions head with the chutzpah to speak openly about the process. You may be shocked by what she is willing to say, behind closed doors but in front of a camera, about each family as she passes judgment on their applications , but perhaps she knows that enough people want to go to her school that she can say whatever she wants and people will still grovel at her feet for the chance to pay 5 figures for a pre-school education. It makes sense that in the delicate dance of nursery school admissions, neither side would want to rock the boat by appearing in a documentary about the subject. But without that level of participation, Nursery University falls flat. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Unbelievable. It's ridiculous that so much energy and money has to be wasted on something as silly as preschool. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member more evidence that all parents travel on the train known as "crazy." Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Nursery University

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Movie Info

Synopsis The adults throw more tantrums than the toddlers in this documentary about a recent phenomenon: wealthy families battling to get their children into expensive, elite preschools. A recent baby boom in New York City has led to fewer available slots and more desperation than ever before, and ruthless parents consent to pay a fortune in tuition. The film follows five different families as they struggle through this competitive process and receive a rigorous education of their own.
Director
Marc H. Simon
Producer
Marc H. Simon, Matthew Makar
Screenwriter
Marc H. Simon
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 15, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$23.2K
Runtime
1h 30m
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