Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

Plot synopsis:
Sue Ellen Crandell (Christina Applegate) is a 17-year-old high school dream teen who looks forward to the summer when her divorced mother will be in Australia all summer. Sue Ellen tells her friends at the clothing shop about her thoughts of a fun-filled summer of freedom in the rural Los Angeles suburbs while the rest of her friends are planning a trip to Europe. After arriving home, Sue Ellen's dreams are then abruptly curtailed upon the arrival of elderly Mrs. Sturak (Eda Reiss Merin), whom Mrs. Crandell (Concetta Tomei) has hired as a live-in babysitter for Sue Ellen and her younger siblings: 16-year-old Kenny (Keith Coogan), a heavy metal-loving stoner; 12-year-old Zach (Christopher Pettiet), a romantic ladies' man; 10-year-old Melissa (Danielle Harris), an athletic tomboy; and eight-year-old game show addict Walter (Robert Hy Gorman).Mrs. Sturak reveals her true colors the moment Mrs. Crandell departs: an iron-fisted, whistle-blowing, no-nonsense disciplinarian. That evening, Sue Ellen inspires her siblings to rise up against Mrs. Sturak and end her reign of terror. The moment they move in to confront her, however, they discover Mrs. Sturak dead in her chair. The Crandells panic and debate calling the police, or their mother in Australia, but Sue Ellen realizes that doing so jeopardizes any chance for summer fun for their mother will no doubt return and unfairly blame them for Mrs. Sturak's death. They finally decide to seal Mrs. Sturak's body in a trunk, and drop it off anonymously at the local morgue with a note reading: "Nice old lady inside. Died of natural causes."More panic ensues when the kids realize that all the cash their mother left them for the summer was in an envelope that Mrs. Sturak kept about her person at all times. The Crandell kids now have no money, but Sue Ellen decides all she needs is a job. Unfortunately, the only place that hires her is Clown Dog, a fast-food restaurant, where she performs grunt labor in miserable conditions. Despite meeting Bryan (Josh Charles), a handsome and supportive co-worker who becomes her boyfriend, Sue Ellen quickly gets fed up with Clown Dog and quits.Sue Ellen then forges the résumé of a mid-level fashion executive and poses as a 28-year-old as she applies at General Apparel West, a downtown L.A. clothing manufacturer, for an open receptionist position. Although scorned by Carolyn (Jayne Brook), the rude and sarcastic receptionist due for a promotion, Sue Ellen's résumé garners the attention of Rose Lindsey (Joanna Cassidy), the senior vice president of operations at GAW, who offers an executive administrative assistant position to her.Sue Ellen struggles to keep the truth about her double life hidden from Bryan and GAW. But things become more complicated after Sue Ellen learns that Bryan is the younger brother of Carolyn the receptionist who quickly sees through Sue Ellen's charade and she teams up with her equally cynical and sneaky boyfriend Bruce (David Douchney) to try to prove that sue Ellen is a phoney to the skeptic Rose.After learning about office money called petty cash, Sue Ellen "borrows" enough for groceries. She convinces herself that she will be able to pay back the money she stole, but on her first payday, she sees that her paycheck is only $730, for nearly half of her pay is taken away for taxes and her siblings used even more petty cash, totaling over $3,000, to purchase nonreturnable items such as Zach purchasing a huge stereo TV and sound set.Compounding her distress is bad news from Rose: the company is going under because GAW's dowdy fashions aren't selling amid their buyers, and soon all of them will be out of a job. In a moment of epiphany, Sue Ellen goes out on a limb for GAW by designing high-end fashions on her own for GAW. She convinces Rose and the other senior staff members that her hip clothes could pull GAW back out of bankruptcy. Rose is impressed and wants to hold a gala event-type show to reveal GAW's new fashion line to their buyers. Realizing there isn't enough petty cash to rent a hall, Sue Ellen convinces Rose to hold the fashion show at the Crandell house.Working together with her siblings and friends, they use the remaining petty cash to spruce up the house and host the event themselves. The evening goes off swimmingly, with the audience loving the new GAW clothing line. Right at the show's finale, however, Bryan shows up unexpectedly, quickly followed by a furious Mrs. Crandell, back early from Australia (having not heard from the kids over their refusal to take her phone calls).Overwhelmed by her lies, Sue Ellen announces the truth to everyone and apologizes to Rose, but Rose assures her that the buyers loved the new fashions and don't care about Sue Ellen's personal life. With GAW's future secured, Rose gladly offers the "real" Sue Ellen another position at GAW, but Sue Ellen declines in favor of pursuing college first.With the party ended and the guests departing, Mrs. Crandell begins to lose her temper, but is quickly calmed down by a now more-mature Sue Ellen, as well as the suttle Kenny, Zack, Melissa and Walter. Mom walks around the house, impressed and suspicious by the cleanliness, expensive new furnishings, and the behavioral turn-around of all her children. As Sue Ellen and Bryan embrace and kiss, Mrs. Crandell asks about the whereabouts of Mrs. Sturak.The end credits then begin to roll as the film cuts to a scene at the local cemetery, where the two morgue attendants are visiting Mrs. Sturak's grave and saying how nice it was of her to leave them all her money which they squandered on gambling trips to Las Vegas. Her tombstone simply reads: "Nice Old Lady. Died Of Natural Causes."

Tags: cult

Review:
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.
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!
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.
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..
Each character has their own stereotype- Walter the youngest: a handful, Melissa: the disobedient tomboy, Kenny: the headbanging rocker drop-out, Zachary: the calm, but sneaky love struck teen and Sue-Ellen: the responsible, yet hip mother of her siblings.
I remember watching this film when I was growing up, I loved it then and I still love it.Despite the fact it's obviously predictable, it's a fun film that's well acted and directed and has a great soundtrack.Christina Applegate is quite impressive as Sue-Ellen, as is the rest of the cast.Most of the characters are quite black and white with the obvious "baddies" getting their comeuppance towards the end of the film.
His acting was great don't get me wrong, but I think it's safe to say Bryan wouldn't be MY type!If anything else, this fun film is easy to watch and will remind most people in their mid 20's of their adolescents..
However, we get to see shades of Wayne's World-esquire Generation X teen movie, especially in the character of Rob, and unfortunately the short-lived genre of 'kids acting in grown-up situations and delivering ever-so-amusing grownup lines.' John Hughes was the master of this style of film-making, and there's definitely shades of his work in here, most noticeably the setting of a film largely within a family house.First of all - the pitch.
The plot then follows Sue Ellen as she stumbles her way into a job and up the corporate ladder (the script is devoid of jokes at this point, but I kept watching because Christina Applegate is a surprisingly good actress.) Everything from this point is a misjudgment - it's virtually scrawled across the screen that Sue Ellen is getting some life lessons and becoming a young adult.
Kenny must throw away his carefree existence if he wants to become a man.Sure, this film has faults like pearls on a string - the annoying smaller children who eat up screen time and contribute nothing but an unbearable cuteness (and they're not even that cute: they steal money from their mom's purse - twice.) Sue Ellen's corporate life is shown as patronizingly simple, but that's a fault of all movies in general, you can't have clever successful people as the heroes because the audience feels intimidated.
That's the beauty of it, and that's why Christina Applegate is an actress!There are so many quotes that I would like to add to my "comments," but as most of you have probably seen it, you don't likely need a commentary; so instead I'll just get back to the QED Report so Swell can have it to New York by this afternoon.It's too bad she and young Brian are married now -- I used to watch the grunion run with him.
If you want that go watch a three hour Ingmar Bergman film but if you want a breezy, silly comedy with good performances and a snappy pace than this is for you.The whole setup is preposterous but so are many 80 & 90's comedies, Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone etc, but once this one gets past its bumpy intro scenes it actually becomes a more focused story of a young girl finding her way through unexpected responsibilities.It helps a great deal that the cast headed by two very good actresses.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge movie critic and have all sorts of favorite top-notch movie that this may not compare to (Lord of the Rings for instance)--but when I watched "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" I absolutely loved it!
When I was watching, I dreamed of being in that family with the Crandells (Sue Ellen "Swell", Kenny, Melissa, Zach and Walter) spending my "summer vacation" with them 'cuz they looked like they were having a BLAST!
That would have been awesome if they were all a family in real life today, yes, even in 2004, 'cuz they were a perfect 5!Let's get to the notable lines....check this out, out of all the movies I've seen in life, this one really stood out with the character lines....some were funny and very memorable..
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a very good movie that has an original plot and great acting.The story is very good and original,a mom goes on a vacation for 2 months and leaves her kids home for the summer with a babysitter that soon dies.basically 20 minutes after the babysitter dies,that part of the story is excluded from the film,since the babysitter isnt mentioned til the end of the movie.The actors gave very good performances in this film.The movie is intended to be a comedy,but really there isnt much comedy in the film,but that shows how good the movie is because the film doesnt need the comedy to be good.The ending was funny though.Long story short,Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a very good movie that gets in my number one list for best movie of 1991.10 out of 10..
It also shows how easy someone can get away with something for a least a while like Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate).
I'm pleased that it gets a sizable enough positive response here from viewers, because a film like this can easily be dismissed as a typical formula comedy from a certain era, but unlike many films of its time it retains a very nice appeal, thanks in large part to Christina Applegate.
Anyone who loved "Married with Children" and the acting by Christina Applegate in that series will surely like this film, which revolves around her persona.The plot is simple: Single mother goes on a month's vacation leaving all the kids in care of an elderly babysitter, who promptly dies from natural causes.
The kids don't want mum back at once, so they dispose of the old lady in a fitting manner - accidentally taking all the housekeeping money with her to the mortuary.So the kids ends up with no money and no one to turn to, but they somehow manage till mom comes back.The acting by all the kids is superb, Christina Applegate not least,and the rest of the cast is beyond reproach, too!
Joanna Cassidy as Applegate's boss (long story :-)!) is just perfect, as is John Getz as Joanna's sometime lover (although he seem to run after anything in a skirt).There are many moral lessons from this lighthearted story, not least that circumstance can force you to do things you never dreamed of doing, and that the sad fact is that money makes the world go around!I liked it the first time I saw it and I even liked it more the second time round!.
"Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" is an all-time comedy great.
When Sue Ellen, Walter, Kenny, and Melissa's mother goes to Australia for the summer they are left home with a babysitter.
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.
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.
I really enjoyed this movie,, very funny, lot's of humor,, you have an old grandma, who looks 90, acts like a drill sergeant towards the kids,, the boy is totally reckless, clueless and lazy,, the teen girl actually shows ambition, and wants to earn money,, not like today's teen girls that's for sure..
With their mother away on holiday in Austrailia for 2 months Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) and her siblings are looking forward to a summer of no rules, no curfews and no nagging, that is until they discover their mom has arranged for a babysitter for the duration of her vacation.
When the babysitter dies, they decide not to tell their mother and spoil her vacation.Sue Ellen soon realises that she needs to get a job and support her siblings, but she soon learns that being an adult is not all that easy.With a fine performance from Christina and good support from the rest of cast this turns out to be a really enjoyable film that is effortlessly funny throughout.6/10.
Christina Applegate is a gem and this movie is funny and sweet all at the same time.
She was the sexy sister in that show but in this movie she's much less of a party girl and is the responsible kid in the family, keeping everything together after their mom leaves town and the babysitter passes away.
The kids, led by 17 year old Sue Ellen or "Swell" (Christina Applegate), decide they can take care of themselves.
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.
Another thing I really enjoyed while watching Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead were all the late 80s / early 90s trappings.
When the kid's mom goes on a two month summer vacation to Australia and leave the kids with a sadistic old lady, much to Christina's (Sue Ellen, Sue El, Swell; her name shortened) protest, we get a ten minute long tops session of the babysitters scenes before she dies.
Then, after a couple more amusing bits of the kids leaving a trunk with her body in it with message "nice old lady inside, died of natural causes" at the funeral home, and then too late realizing that they left the money on the dead babysitters person, they are all stuck and broke with almost two more months before mom comes home.
But I guess Kenny was needed to stay home and watch the little ones, even though he doesn't do a good job of that, getting stoned with his buddies in his room while one of the little ones plays on the roof, falls off and breaks his leg.
It's a fun movie for all ages to watch!Swell & Kenny dropped the coffin off at the funeral home, and drove away.
There is one problem, someone has to get a job, and that ends up being Sue Ellen "Swell" Crandell (Christina Applegate) the oldest.
"Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is one of the most funniest movies of it's time.
the cast was outstanding, I think Christina Applegate was just like her role as Kelly Bundy on Married With Children.
This is one cool teen movie which ranks amongst such films as Serial Mom and Wayne's World for great light-hearted Saturday Night entertainemnt.
The great thing about this film is it's cheery funny and has many things you can relate to.Otherwise it's just another fun and easy to watch movie, The first time I saw it I thought it was a bunch of garbage but then my friend bought it over and made us watch it, And I loved it.
it isn't good.i didn't find it funny at all.i did find it boring and stupid,though,so i guess that's something.not something good,but still something.i couldn't finish the whole movie,i was so bored.in the 45 minutes i watched,i never laughed once.i figured if the movie wasn't good by then,it wasn't gonna get any better.the premise is an interesting one,but the execution falls flatter than than a pancake.somewhere between page and scree it falls apart.the average rating here is 5.3/10 and i would have to disagree with that rating.for me,Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead into the awful category with a 3/10..
I'm sure if you've seen it you enjoyed it, the humor of sue Ellen's boss (rose), The innocent romance between sue Ellen and Bryan, the coming of age and stepping up to your responsibilities from Kenny.....a recipe for success.You could even be blind and love it.....i am not blind and i could see its potential.But alas as long as the scornful eyes of others tarnish a perfectly good/great comedy then i say "i pity you fools"...your loss and more fun for me.SERIOUSLY YOU LOVE AND YOUR IN DENIAL........I KNOW YOU ARE....." yeah she like 200 years old"....did you hear clip from spinal tap when she gets the petty cash?.
I guessed it was a very bad movie; nevertheless after seeing Christina Applegate as Swell I thought it was quite good.
Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead is a good likeable comedy from the early 90's.
Yes, the plot is quite dumb, but this movie is still really good with okay performances from everyone involved, including Christina Applegate..
DTMTBD makes Home Alone look like Gandhi.Avoid this movie at all costs.Seriously.Christina Applegate should have been run out of Hollywood, never to return, for participating in this piece of garbage..
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a good film that has a good cast which includes 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, and Michael Kopelow!
If you like Christina Applegate, Joanna Cassidy, John Getz, Josh Charles, Keith Coogan, Concetta Tomei, David Duchovny, Kimmy Robertson, Jayne Brook, the rest of the cast in the film, Comedy, Dramas, and interesting films then I strongly recommend you to see this film today!.
Christina Applegate is really beautiful and all things considered I thought this movie gave a good picture of how it is like to make it on your own without the support of grownups.
Sue Ellen's boyfriend is almost Holden Caulfieldian in his outlook on life and all in all this movie is a great view into a time before the home computer got customary, internet, cell phones and so forth.
We loved her on Married with Children, but the only thing she has done since that is worthwhile is to play Amy on Friends.Want a babysitter movie?
"Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" was successful at the box office and before long it was not only on VHS but even on television (Fox 11 aired this film owing to the fact its star Christina Applegate was a cast member in their hit show "Married With Children".) Applegate portrays Sue Ellen Crandell, the spoiled daughter of a single mother (Concetta Tomei) who takes off on much needed three-month vacation for the summer.
I loved this movie, even now, 10 years later, I think it's great.The movie starts with the main character, Sue Ellen crowing to her friends about how she's going to be on her own this summer, because her mother is going on a 2 month vacation, but to her surprise, the mother does not trust her 17 year old daughter to be in charge for 2 months, and hires a babysitter, who turns out to be an evil 80 year old nazi, and the kids immediately despise her.Lucky for them, she dies fairly soon, and they pretty much drag her body to a funeral home, ring the doorbell and run.
This movie's objective was to entertain, not make any sort of political statement.Anyway, it was fun, it had a cute ending, and I thought Christina Applegate did a swell job acting in this one..
While "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" is no masterpiece, it's 5.5 rating is a bit harsh for this early 90s movie that I remember watching during High School.
Here Christina Applegate who never really launched in the movie-world, holds her own pretty well, although she doesn't quite cut-it believable as a 17 year old.
Applegate (Married with Children) plays teen, Sue Ellen who wants to enjoy her last summer vacation.
Then again, if she did, the movie would be over.There are some good characters, like the one played by Keith Coogan.