When Mom Crandell decides to take the Summer off for an Australian vacation without her children, she hires a babysitter to oversee things. Mom is barely out of the country when the babysitter turns up dead. The kids, led by 17 year old Sue Ellen or "Swell" (Christina Applegate), decide they can take care of themselves. Using a copied resume, Swell is soon on her way up the career ladder in the fashion industry. With little help at home from her siblings, a new boyfriend, a failing company, and co-workers out to get her, Swell's got her hands full if she's to successfully navigate her Summer.I don't think I've seen Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead in something like 20 years. I was happy to discover that, for the most part, the film holds up well. The comedy still works. Swell's interactions with her co-workers are often very funny. I got a real kick out of seeing a young David Duchovny working to thwart Swell. Or the way Swell pulls the wool over her boss's eyes time after time. Good stuff! The exception is Gus (John Getz) repeatedly hitting on Swell. Really cringey. I've always enjoyed Christina Applegate and here she's as good as ever. I wish she would have done more of this kind of film in the 90s. It suits her. I'm guessing that her role in Married with Children negatively typecast her. Other big pluses in this movie are some child actors who can actually act, life lessons that aren't driven home with a heavy hand, and some nice musical selections. The ending is something of a head scratcher. Even after being discovered as a fake, Swell is offered, but turns down, the chance to continue her career. Why? It's never made sense to me. Still, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a solid movie. Another thing I really enjoyed while watching Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead were all the late 80s / early 90s trappings. Shoulder pads, bright colors, big hair - the nostalgia just flowed over me. But the thing that really stood out was all the smoking. I forgot how much people used to smoke in movies. Seeing "17" year old Swell smoking non-stop really brought that home. You wouldn't see that today. It's definitely a product of its time.

today movies are violent more than ever before. they are evil and this is the norm of action flicks of today.Now let me welcome you to a time when movies were entertainment. Don't tell mom the babysitter's dead is absolutely from a better day and a better time of life. It reflects not just what the movie style is but it actually was a sign of the times reflected in the movie. No longer will you find movies like this.if you see this review without seeing the movie then find the movie watch the movie the acting directing scripts are all innocently and well directed making this one of the most delightful movies ever made.comparing it to movies of today this movie gets an easy 10 out of 10 for just pure fun. After watching this movie I swear you will feel good at the end not like movies of today. I guarantee you will be smiling and glad that you watched this movie. So what are you waiting for entertain yourself with some quality from the past

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.

This movie was nothing like what I expected it to be. It looked to me like a movie where the kids get the run of the house and go crazy, throwing parties and doing outrageous, irresponsible things. It ended up being closer to Working Girl: the oldest teen has to get a job and falls backwards into an upwardly mobile fashion career. The responsibilities of maintaining the house eventually turn each of the children into productive citizens.What bothered me wasn't so much the story as the fact that almost nothing was funny. It ended up being closer to a drama. There performances were cartoonish, but at the same time, weren't into so-bad-they're-funny territory (except for the guy who played Gus. Someone should have seen this movie and realized the potential this actor had as a physical comedian).So there was almost nothing to like. Once in a while, we get a good line or two, like when the brother and sister were arguing like a married couple. But as soon as one of these good exchanges got going, the movie cuts right away to something else, killing the comedy momentum. My opinion was that it was an idea with good potential that was completely mishandled.