A single mom leaves her five kids home with a geriatric babysitter when she leaves town on a three-month vacation to Australia: what could possibly go wrong? The premise for Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead may not be the most plausible, but it does make for one of our favorite '90s teen movies. After her babysitter dies suddenly of a heart attack, Sue Ellen Crandell (played expertly by Christina Applegate in her first movie role) has to give up her fantasy of hanging on the beach with her friends all Summer and scams her way into a job at an LA fashion company so she can make money and take care of her younger siblings. There's comedy, a love interest, and lots of horrifying shoulder pads, but most of all, there are many life lessons to glean. The movie celebrated its 26th anniversary this year, and in honor, we're looking back on the most memorable things we learned from Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.
All Sue Ellen wanted to do was go to the beach with her scrunchie-wearing girlfriends; was that too much to ask? Having a dead babysitter really got in the way of her suntanning and gossiping.
Sue Ellen's fake résumé was everything: Calvin Klein, Vogue, and Comme des Garcons? She may have ripped it straight from a book, but at least she picked the most high-profile companies.
Sure, Swell had to raid her mom's closet for office-appropriate outfits, but she made the best of it and ended up looking superchic throughout the movie.
And especially if he's young Josh Charles.
And we never looked at rubber bouncy balls the same way after this scene.
Sue Ellen cured the hunger of four young humans with one giant bowl of cereal; it's ingenuity at its best.
Especially if that person is your boss.
Why isn't this an Olympic sport yet?
This is an exact quote from Sue Ellen's boss, Rose Lindsey. You probably didn't fully understand the joke when you first saw the movie, but the double entendre isn't lost on you anymore.
"General Apparel West Presents: The Teenage Fashion Wave of the Future."
She's better off not knowing. Seriously.