Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead
“Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” is a perfect remake, and within its first few minutes, director Wade Allain-Marcus has already changed the narrative. Not leaving a beat to his modern version of what is now a nine nineties classic, he prepares an innocent girl for somewhere she doesn’t want to be and for something that she is simply not ready for.
By altering a few important details, getting rid of some unimportant extra characters, and making the narrative more focused on a black family that is learning how to be one, the events become the most comical, the most buoyant, and the most memorable. It is rare to find a movie that is so genuine, funny, and charming and loves a refreshing change.
Seventeen-year-old Tanya Crandell (Simone Joy Jones) is the center of attention this summer — and not in the way that she wanted. She had the opportunity to reach out to her best friends and travel to Spain for two months to unwind and recharge. This is of course rapidly changed the moment her widowed mother (Patricia ‘Ms. Pat’ Williams) has an emotional outburst at work and needs Tanya’s earnings from her vacation to go and partake in a doctor’s prescribed yoga immersion in Thailand.
But the worst part of it all is delivered by a mad mom, who now decides to not only ask for her spa therapy while going there, but also has arranged for a babysitter who will take care of Tanya’s siblings while she is away. The babysitter was obviously undesirable for a dysfunctional family – burn-out Kenny (Donielle T. Hansley Jr.), sinister Melissa (Ayaamii Sledge) and simpleminded Zack (Carter Young).
While in her 90s, Ms. Sturak (June Squibb) is not the kind sweet old lady who takes care of the children. She is an open racist and generally speaks in a rude manner. At least her reign over the children lasts just one episode because she dies in her bed the first night. The cunning children have to unite for the quite elaborate joke about the 1991 movie Body of Evidence and get rid of the deceased.
They also have to fend for themselves without their mother’s financial help and without losing her mind. When Tanya is not able to survive on gig economy jobs, she fakes a resume to try out at a crumbling fashion company run by the super cool, Rose (Nicole Richie). However, just when things seem to be looking up for the Crandells, they face one blow after another that puts them in trouble.
Screenwriter Chuck Hayward does a brilliant job modifying what original screenwriters Neil Landau and Tara Ison (who also have story and executive producer credits) created. He and Allain-Marcus also interestingly delve deeper into the theme of family bonds, not only by giving each of the Crandell siblings an interesting character development (removing one of the dysfunctional siblings from the original plot altogether), but also showing how the Crandell siblings come together and accomplish the unthinkable, going against what society expects from young people.
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead film does not only manage to bring more character depth to the Crandell siblings, but it also manages to do the same with Tanya’s co-workers Caroline (Iantha Richardson) and Bruce (Gus Kenworthy) who are now more developed than just being cranky opponents in the story.
The filmmakers wisely coordinate some relevant issues such as fast fashion, hunger, sexism, and privilege in a funny and smart way. The childish activities that cause problems within the story are interesting because breaking an arm or running from the cops is ‘normal’ problem and not that problem for Black Crandell family versus the family of whites.
That sentiment is wholeheartedly understood: subtle winks and nods to the first film are executed perfectly with pleasant cameos, striking quotes and musical motifs all strategically placed. And while most of the memorable squeeze zooms, close ups, fast edits and clothing ride-ons of the first feature abound as forewards to KOD fans, Allain-Marcus and his crew also put their own particular Aesthetic Weiss on top. A late title card drop suggests that we’re in for a cool, creative patch.
Tanya and her love interest Bryan (Miles Fowler) go on dates and Clegg’s cinematography captures the moments of gentle romance between the two. There is also youthful dynamism in the camera movement when the family, for example, is elegantly revolved around during a second act dining sequence. The design of the interiors at the Crandell house — filmed at the same Santa Clarita residence that the original was shot at — illustrates the state of togetherness of the family and how it progresses from an unkempt state to an overly sophisticated one.
Jones cleverly combines an awkward moment for her character with vulnerability and great sense of comic timing. Hansley Jr. manages to make Kenny three-dimensional, while Young — who has a funny story line about Zack actually making friends with a murder of crows — and Sledge also do justice to their characters and come out as stars. Richie as Rose is delightful and gives such quick lines reminiscent of Rosalind Russell as if she is in her own comedy of the 40s.
A couple of gags do not hit their target (including Richard O’Brian’s one line about people throwing themselves under factory machinery) and there’s a nothingburger subplot involving Rose’s boyfriend Gus (Jermaine Fowler), but the good things make the imperfections feel irrelevant. Also of note is a belly laugh, subtle self-critique of the very act of remaking: Eco-friendly Tanya uses for her work upcycled materials and garments and spices them with designs. She creates something new and interesting for the present by remaking the best parts of the past.
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- Genre: Comedy
- Country: United States
- Director: Wade Allain-Marcus
- Cast: Danielle Harris, June Squibb, Joanna Cassidy
