Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

OK the premise is dumb--A mom is going on vacation to Australia for two months. She has five children and leaves them with a tyrannical babysitter. The babysitter dies (of natural causes) within the first 15 minutes and the kids basically have to live alone all summer...but need money for food. The oldest one is 17 year old Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate)and she easily gets an executive position (just like real life, right?) at a fashion agency and, naturally, is incredible at her job. And her brothers and sisters learn values from her example...

Sounds horrible, but it's well-acted (especially Applegate and a drop dead gorgeous Joanna Cassidy), it moves quickly, is very funny, has a great soundtrack of new AND old songs and I enjoyed every minute of it! Not a great movie by any means, but if you can turn off your brain for 2 hours, you'll really enjoy it!

This film is sort of like a perfect time capsule for what life was like before the internet. What a trip.

You know... I've seen this a couple of times and I'd see it again. It made me laugh. It was charming. It was a harmless flick; no psyches were harmed in the making thereof. Granted, no real thought needs to be put into watching it. But it was fun, and I enjoyed it.

Christina Applegate especially impressed me, which is noteworthy as -- at the time -- I really disliked her as a result of really disliking "Married With Children." She was not only good in her role but, I have to say, pretty much won me over.

I can't say that the film made me wish I had siblings or a dead babysitter, but it did entertain me, and it made me smile to remember it watching this review, which has got to be worth something.

Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead (1991)

This is one of the best and the last 80's style comedies along the lines of "Uncle Buck". Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) is the oldest of 3 brothers- Kenny (Keith Coogan), Walter (Robert Gorman), Zach (Christopher Pettiet) , and 1 sister- Melissa (Danielle Harris). Excited about her mom leaving for Australia on vacation, Sue Ellen is expecting to have a great summer- that is until she discovers she is going to be "babysat" by the evil Mrs. Sturak- a mean, grumpy old hag who gives you book reports instead of letting you watch television in the evening. Then, Mrs. Sturak dies- leaving Sue Ellen and her four siblings to survive the summer, prompting her to get a job to support her brothers and sister, put food on the table, and learn the true meaning of responsibility. This movie has some laughs and is pretty fun and entertaining. A good family comedy. 8/10.

I remember watching this film when I was about ten and I loved it. I remember being motivated to see it in the first place because Married with children reigned supreme in our house and I loved Christina Applegate. In this movie she didn't disappoint either, as she was not only good in it, but played a character wildly different from mean, dim witted Kelly Bundy. Instead she played Sue Ellen Krandle a decent ,level headed, but restless young woman who is uncertain about her future. Sue Ellen has a contentious relationship with her siblings and mother,but she also is willing to strive for their approval and respect. In other words she is a regular seventeen year old. More mature than her siblings but not quite ready to take up the mantle of an adult. When her mother goes to Austraila, Sue Ellen thinks that she is going to have a care free summer of fun in the sun, when a woman comes to the door and her mother introduces... the babysitter. When mom leaves the seemingly sweet grandma like gem, reveals a nastily terrifying tyrant underneath, and Sue Ellen and her siblings try and keep cool heads. The old be careful what you wish for scenario surfaces when the baby sitter sees Sue Ellens punk brother's bedroom and is literally shocked to death. Sue Ellen finds the woman's corpse and to make a long story short her and her siblings are left for two months with out money or adult supervision. This movie is not perfect from a technical standpoint. It a predicable cheesy fantasy full of scenarios that in real life would be incrediblbly dark. However, for some reason, the acting, the engrossing action pact scenes and the love you have for the respectful a, fresh and resourceful sue Ellen and hate you have for the bad characters emotionally engross you. This movie couldn't hold up today, but for its time, and because the memories it brings I will always love it.