Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead (1991)

In this witless entry in the executive-pretender genre (Big, The Secret of My Success, Opportunity Knocks), a teenybopper (Christina Applegate) has to provide for her siblings when Mom goes on a long vacation and the crotchety old baby-sitter dies. She cons her way into the job of executive assistant at a clothing company and then, thanks to her superior knowledge of teen fashion, ends up saving the company. On Married... With Children, the baby-faced Applegate has a slutty spark. Here, in Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead the role is too straight, and she's blah — an apple pie that's neither sweet nor tart enough. The one performer with any life is Joanna Cassidy. As Applegate's iron-lady boss, she invests her office jargon with a beamy-eyed fervor that makes every line sound like foreplay.