The title betrays only one of the many chances that this not-bad comedy misses. Five kids, left behind when their mother goes on holiday to Australia, get a sadistic old witch looking after them. Given that few mothers would pass over a 17-year-old daughter (Christina Applegate) to leave in charge, this is an okay action-farce situation. Straight away, though, the writers make the minder drop dead, and pitch us right into another kind of film. Head daughter Christina has to get a job to support the family (the minder has been buried with the housekeeping). Faking a CV, she falls on her cute blonde Sandra Dee-type feet at a clothing company. Now if she were to use her teenage know-how to make her way in the company, this would be all right. But she doesn't do that for another hour, and in the meantime we get a sappy plot about teenage romance and the junior family members stealing thousands from the firm's petty cash 'tina has borrowed (as if she'd take the whole cashbox home! ). The last half hour contains some quite bright moments, until Mom comes home to spoil everything before the film has reached any sort of climax. David Duchovny has a supporting role.

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