Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead

Christina Applegate stars in Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead, the witless executive-pretender comedy about a teenybopper who 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 of a clothing company and ends up saving the company. On Married With Children, the baby-faced Applegate has a slutty spark. Here, the role is too straight, and she’s blah — an apple pie that’s neither sweet nor tart enough. As Applegate’s iron-lady boss, Joanna Cassidy invests her office jargon with a beamy-eyed fervor that makes every line sound like foreplay. D+