This isn't just another teen movie.
Mom is notable for her absence, packed off for two months to Australia, leaving five troublesome kids, dream girl 17-year-old Sue 'Swell' Ellen (Christina Applegate), her brothers Kenny, Zach and Walter, 6-year-old Melissa and a ghastly ogre of a little old lady who is clearly some sort of serial babysitter. 'TV rots your brain' she wheezes menacingly, before Kenny's satanic bedroom brings on a coronary. Once the 'sitter' has snuffed it, the kids opt to fend for themselves and elect Swell as the breadwinner. So far, so predictable, but this is a sassy little comedy of wit and intelligence from the director of 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'. Applegate is appealing and resourceful, while Coogan's dope-head, Kenny, contributes to a wonderfully dry, on-going marital spoof. Getz is an unctuous boardroom chauvinist to a tee and Cassidy rounds off the picture's relaxed Cosmo-feminism as Swell's scatty boss. Excellent comedy.