1991 Directed by Stephen Herek
Sue Ellen Crandell is a teenager eagerly awaiting her mother's summer-long absence. While the babysitter looks after her rambunctious younger siblings, Sue Ellen can party and have fun. But then the babysitter abruptly dies, leaving the Crandells short on cash. Sue Ellen finds a sweet job in fashion by lying about her age and experience on her résumé. But, while her siblings run wild, she discovers the downside of adulthood
Christina Applegate Joanna Cassidy John Getz Josh Charles Keith Coogan Concetta Tomei David Duchovny Kimmy Robertson Jayne Brook Eda Reiss Merin Robert Hy Gorman Danielle Harris Christopher Pettiet Chris Claridge Jeff Bollow Michael Kopelow Alejandro Quezada Wendy Brainard Sarah Buxton Kawena Charlot Laurie Morrison Deborah Tucker Sydney Lassick Michelle Mais Oscar Jordan Marc Epstein Jim Holmes Cathy Ladman Frank Dent Show All…
No le digas a mamá que la baby sitter ha muerto, The Real World, Не казвайте на мама, че бавачката е мъртва, Neříkejte mamince, že pečovatelka zemřela, Hurra! Babysitteren er død, Fast Food Family, No le digas a mamá que la canguro ha muerto, No le digas a la mamá que la niñera ha muerto, Apua! Lapsenvahti kuoli - ethän kerro äidille, Faut pas dire à maman que la gardienne mange les pissenlits par les racines, Panique chez les Crandell, סוף סוף השאירו אותנו לבד, Kipurcant a bébicsősz, anyának egy szót se, ...non dite a mamma che la babysitter è morta, 돈 텔 맘, Nie Mów Mamie, że Niania Nie Żyje, Viva! A Babá Morreu, Не говори маме, что няня умерла, Немој рећи мами, код куће смо сами, Säg inte till mamma att barnvakten dött, Ні слова мамі про смерть няні, 假日少女情
Relationship comedy Crude humor and satire Underdogs and coming of age teenager, school, friendship, funny or nerds musical, songs, singing, comedy or funny funny, comedy, humor, jokes or hilarious christmas, holiday, heartwarming, family or joy chemistry, hilarious, romantic comedy, sweet or humorous Show All…
Hold on. This single mom has five kids and she decides that because she’s 37 she’s earned a vacation? So she leaves them with someone she’s never even met for two months while she goes to Australia by herself? You can just... do that? Can I do that? I am older than 37 and I have less kids to irresponsibly abandon!
Revisiting this was an overload of early 1990’s-ism’s... kinda feels like Home Alone for Roseanne watchers at the start before morphing into an 80’s hijinx movie? Last time I watched this was probably pre 2000, so it was good to see my homies the California Raisins make a brief cameo on a towel used as a death shroud for the evil babysitter!!!
How Green Was My Valley over Citizen Kane.
The Greatest Show on Earth over High Noon and The Quiet Man.
Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line.
No Academy fuck up is as great as the one where they failed to even nominate Stephen Herek's brilliant. soulful, and full of pop art attitude Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead, a clever response to Mike Nichol's insipid Working Girl.
Only illiterate film snobs would turn away Herek's film, which brilliantly predicts the social and economic downturns that would happen a decade later. It reveals the lie its own decade would live in for years. Christina Applegate is a revelation. A young resourceful woman who uses her…
Imagine being in the hospital dying, the nurse walks in, and she's wearing that thing that Sue Ellen designed. Like, what??
The trailer for this movie is so bullshit. It literally shows a select portion of the storyline that represents about 12 actual minutes of the film. Let me tell you, eleven year old me was pissed when I saw this at the Drive-in (it was one of the few times I’ve ever been to the Drive-In, so the memory is seared into my mind). I didn’t want to see the ‘teenage girl becomes successful business lady’ storyline...I was all in for the ‘old bitch sitter gets what she deserves and the kids have a blast on their own for a summer’ story.
And now, with the passage of time and the restructuring of expectations, I’m even less of a fan of this movie because I don’t connect with either storyline!
I didn’t hate it, but I definitely won’t be giving it a third viewing.
Every single time, I forget about David Duchovny's slicked-back hair which is weird, considering how many times I've seen this despite some very questionable 'hey, it's cool! It's the 90's' humor at the expense of the only marginalized people shown...it's just gross. I use a lot of movies as background music while I'm working and for the most part, this soothes me into a neutral state. Or at least, that's what I always think. Until the thing with the hair. I'm thinking my brain has to reboot after every incident, erasing my memory of it. It's the only explanation.
Basically, this early 90's high concept comedy is a blue collar Home Alone by way of escapist 80's teenage hijinks films. Christina Applegate really was the next movie "It" girl for a minute there before she got stuck on the small screen in Married with Children for eleven seasons and she makes this film work with her charm and commitment to a mostly disposable character/story that should come off as asinine. Though, as always, there are no repercussions for anything these four kids get into while their mom is on a two month vacation in Australia (I'm almost 37. Where is my Australian vacation?!), from what I gather the main lesson here is that adulthood is hard as hell, sucks…
