Don't Believe the Hype

Am I Missing Something?

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

"Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" is an all-time comedy great. It shows that when you work hard and work together how you can get something done. When Sue Ellen, Walter, Kenny, and Melissa's mother goes to Australia for the summer they are left home with a babysitter. She's not any ordinary babysitter, she's and old lady that is rule oriented and is very, very strict. The kids decide that they have had enough and when Sue Ellen, the oldest of the kids, goes down to talk to her, she is found dead. They have no money and Sue Ellen is working for a clothing company for the summer. Thus starts a funny and often touching comedy. What first looks like a straight forward comedy manages to be a lot more. The fish-out-of-water scenario at work rapidly transforms into a realization of how restricting an adult life can be.Despite plot holes and a too rapid chain of events (this film will never join any good "classic videos" collection) that make everything too convent, this is a good movie for generation X. Younger audiences especially accustomed to extensive background checks (ala social media... etc.) are going to have a very hard time swallowing the pre-internet resume, where people actually just turned in a hard copy resume and their background was not actually given a careful look-over. Featuring a great cast of actors such as Joanna Cassidy and Keith Coogan ("Adventures in Babysitting"), "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead" is a grown-up version of "Home Alone" for teens. Amusing, funny, and entertaining, it was Applegate's only feature-film hit. While she made other low-cost films such as "Streets", this film happens to be her best work outside from her work on "Married... With Children.." If you are looking for a great flick for the family this is it.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

This is a funny no-brainier comedy with a group of kids about as dorky as the cast from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High", not quite as stylish as clan from "The Breakfast Club" and not as cool as the gang from "Grease". But this group does have a way of making you laugh in-spite the fact the babysitter is dead. While you are grabbing a bit of fast food on the way home be sure to pick up this movie too. It is a good watch if you are wanting to see a stupid but funny teenage packed comedy flick. This movie may make a good double-flick night with "Weekend at Bernie's" or "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". 7/10

From the being of the movie, I had a hard time of following this movie. But, as the first five minutes went by and we got to the babysitter 's death. Which I thought it was going to be committed by the kids and was thankful that they didn't. I love how shocked the women got freaked out by all the stuff in the house. I love all the typical 90's kid flicks clichés like the tomboy girl refusing to dress more like a girl or the funny little montage. I didn't enjoy the teen-aged brother using drugs and felt the movie should have gotten a PG-13 rating. But,I love how he changed from that to nice,cleaned-up, young man and taking responsibility. Anyways, I thought fashion show was funny for the idea for uniforms even though I can't imagine any school taking them up. But, however, I loved it for how the kids pulled it and grew up. It was nice to see mature teen film that doesn't deal with the search for sex. And the I will leave off on one note about the music, I would have to say the music was decent but, forgettable.

This is a very clever movie. It is not one that would go down as a classic movie, but it is still very clever and somewhat original. On one hand the movie is about the teenage desire to be free and be able to do what they want all through summer. On the other hand it is about a group of kids who are rudely thrust into the adult world and suddenly discover that life isn't the party that they expected it to be. The mother of five children is going on a holiday to Australia during summer. The kids expect that they will look after themselves, but what they don't know is that their mother hired a babysitter. From the first instances in the movie we see that the kids are lazy, insolent, and generally don't care about anything and are not willing to help. The babysitter on the other hand is incredibly totalitarian and forces the kids into line. That is until she see Kenneth's room and dies of a heart attack because of it. The children think that this is great until they realise they have no money. The Babysitter had the money on her when they dumped her at the morgue, and thus they have no food and no money for the two months that their mother is away. The solution is that Sue-ellen or Kenneth get a job. Sue-Ellen looses the toss and must work. After working at a Clown Dog restaurant and hating it, Sue-Ellen makes up a resume and gets a job as an Executive Assistant to the Vice-President at a uniform design company. What starts off as a thrill for Sue-Ellen suddenly pushes her into the world of adulthood. She must deal with jealous employees of whose job she stole and fend of the sleazy advances of a co-worker named Gus. I guess we can delve deep into what happens in the plot because there is always something happening. Sue-Ellen, who is the main character, is not only trying to cope in an adult world with a naive attitude, but she is also trying to hold onto a boyfriend while trying to hide the fact that she is masquerading as a 28 year old, and the fact that the receptionist who hates Sue-Ellen is the guy's sister does not help. What we see though is how the characters grow. Sue-Ellen begins to discover what it is like to be a mother. Her mother knows that her children steal cash from her, but Sue-Ellen, in her naivety, does not expect this and is ripped off over three thousand dollars. The house becomes more messier as the trash piles up while the kids do nothing. Kenneth, who spends his time getting stoned with his friends, is also slowly thrust into adulthood, and quite reluctantly at that. It is only when they are faced with a long time in gaol that they begin to rise above what they were. By the end we see that Sue-Ellen, who wanted to waste the summer away on the beach, has now come to understand what life is really about and has made her decisions while Kenneth realises that school is not a bludge and that his results are important. He goes from a messy druggie to a respectable gentleman who ends up with a woman that he could never have. The final scene is clever with their mother returning home to a party, but not any sort of party. The cliché is that parents walk in on a wild drug party where the music is loud and people are drunk and behaving like hooligans. In this movie the party is very sophisticated with many respectable people and a lot of money floating around. Though quite shocked at what is actually going on, it is still a party. Yet we discover that Sue-Ellen's and Kenneth's attitude to their mother has changed. In the end, it seems that everybody has forgotten that the babysitter ever was there, including the audience. Favourite Quote: She was the best friend that I ever had. You never even knew her. Yes, but she left us all of her money.