Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

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Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead film poster
Directed by	Stephen Herek
Produced by	Julia Phillips Brian Reilly Jeffrey Silver
Written by	Neil Landau Tara Ison
Starring	Christina Applegate Joanna Cassidy Keith Coogan John Getz and Josh Charles
Music by	David Newman
Cinematography	Tim Suhrstedt
Editing by	Larry Bock
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	June 7, 1991
Running time	102 min.
Language	English
Budget	N/A
IMDb profile

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a 1991 comedy film directed by Stephen Herek. Christina Applegate (Married... with Children) stars as a teenager whose mother leaves for a two-month summer vacation in Australia, putting all five siblings in the care of an elderly babysitter. When the babysitter dies, Applegate, as the eldest, assumes the role as head of household to keep the freedom of having no parents around. She fakes a resume to get a job in the fashion industry, but proves capable and lucky enough to succeed.

The film is a classic teen fantasy, where the teen is thrust into the role of adult, to great success.

Although released in 1991, Don't Tell Mom is often considered the last of the 1980's-style teen comedies, and has become a cult classic. A modest box-office success at the time of its release, it is a perennial favorite on television and cable TV.

The film also features Joanna Cassidy, Keith Coogan, Josh Charles, Danielle Harris, and a then-obscure actor named David Duchovny, later of The X-Files fame.

Tag Line: No rules. No curfews. No nagging. No pulse..

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

When the mother of a sniveling group of surly kids goes on a much-deserved summer vacation in Australia, she leaves her kids under the charge of an elderly distaff babysitter. When the babysitter dies, the kids load her dead body in a trunk and deposit the package on the steps of a local funeral home. The kids are ecstatic thinking that with the big load of cash their mother has left, they can have a summer of consumer madness. But when they find out that the money has been buried with the babysitter, the kids have to fend for themselves to make ends meet.

Dream teen Sue Ellen "Swell" Crandell tries work at a fast food restaurant but, in spite of attractive and supportive co-worker Bryan (Josh Charles, Dead Poets Society and later, Sports Night) she can not stand the grease. So, she puts together a false resume and, posing as a 28-year-old, she applies for a job as a receptionist at a garment manufacturing company. The company vice president, Rose Lindsey, is so impressed by her resume that she hires her on the spot as an executive assistant. Her deception looks to be working out great — Swell manages to hold off the office lady killer Gus Brandon, avoids exposure by the embittered receptionist Carolyn, borrows money from the company's petty cash box for household incidentals, and continues her relationship with restaurant employee Bryan. But suddenly, the clothing firm is set to go under, and Swell must use her teen fashion sense to save her company and her job... and she has to get the rest of the brood involved.