Problem Child (1990 film)
Encyclopedia
Problem Child is a 1990 American comedy film. It stars John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...

, Amy Yasbeck
Amy Yasbeck
Amy Marie Yasbeck is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Casey Chapel Davenport on the sitcom Wings from 1994-1997.-Early life:...

, Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin , and...

, Jack Warden
Jack Warden
Jack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...

, Michael Richards
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor, comedian, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld....

 and Michael Oliver
Michael Oliver (actor)
Michael Oliver is a former American child actor of the 1990s. Oliver is best known for his role as "Junior" in two Problem Child movies.-Early life and career:...

. The film was directed by Dennis Dugan
Dennis Dugan
Dennis Dugan is an American director, comedian, and actor. He is most famous for his partnership with comedic actor Adam Sandler, with whom he directed the films Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, Just Go With It, and Jack and...

.

Plot

The film opens with a woman leaving a bassinet
Bassinet
A bassinet or bassinette is a bed specifically for babies from birth to about four months, and small enough to provide a "cocoon" that small babies find comforting....

 on the porch of a fancy home; the baby, named Junior, promptly urinates on the woman who picks him up. From there, he is repeatedly discarded at various homes throughout many years by guardians who have grown tired of his destructive behavior—which includes demolishing a mobile home
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...

 with a bulldozer
Bulldozer
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...

 in retaliation for his favorite toys being stepped on—until he is eventually deposited at a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...

, where he continues to wreak havoc on the strict nuns.

Ben Healy (John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...

) is a pleasant but brow-beaten husband working for his father Big Ben (Jack Warden
Jack Warden
Jack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...

), a tyrannical sporting goods dealer who is running for Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

. Recently, he has discovered that his father intends to sell his store and the land to a Japanese company rather than leave it to him; when he asks why, Big Ben reveals that it is because his son "stubbornly refuses to follow my example" by adopting an honest work ethic instead of a ruthless drive to usurp. He would love to have a son, but his selfish, gold-digging wife Flo (Amy Yasbeck
Amy Yasbeck
Amy Marie Yasbeck is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Casey Chapel Davenport on the sitcom Wings from 1994-1997.-Early life:...

) has been unable to conceive. Ben approaches less-than-scrupulous adoption agent Igor Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin , and...

) with his dilemma, and Igor presents them with a cute 7-year-old boy, Junior (Michael Oliver
Michael Oliver (actor)
Michael Oliver is a former American child actor of the 1990s. Oliver is best known for his role as "Junior" in two Problem Child movies.-Early life and career:...

).

However, Junior is hardly a model child; apparently mean-spirited and incorrigible, he leaves a path of serious destruction in his wake, and is even pen pals with Martin Beck (Michael Richards
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor, comedian, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld....

), a notorious serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...

 called the Bow Tie Killer. Big Ben ends up falling down the stairs, and the house catches on fire. Junior messes up a camping trip with the neighbors by urinating in the fire, and manipulating a practical joke played on the kids by their father, Roy. He makes Ben believe a bear is attacking the campground when it is really Roy in a bear suit. Ben hits Roy with a frying pan. Junior goes then terrorizes his neighbor's birthday party, after Lucy, the snobby birthday girl, bans him from the magic show. Ben seeing Junior is upset gives him his most precious possession, a dried prune that belonged to his grandfather (he thought it resembled Roosevelt), telling him it signifies a bond between two people. Junior however wants revenge he sneaks a lawn sprinkler in her room, cuts off a girl's ponytails with scissors, puts a frog in the punch bowl and throws her presents in the pool and places explosive candles on her birthday cake. Finally, he displays his effective but unethical method for winning in Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...

 where he strikes rival players in the crotch with a baseball bat. Ben is having serious doubts about Junior, and decides to take him back to the orphanage. However, upon hearing he was returned thirty times, he decides to keep and love him, something no one has ever done. However, Junior becomes upset that his parents were going to send him back and despite Ben stating that he will not, drives Flo's car into her father-in-law's store, and Ben's bank account is wiped out to pay for the damage. He is on the verge of cracking until Beck arrives at the house, posing as Junior's uncle, and decides to kidnap his faithful correspondent, along with Flo for ransom
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...

.

While Ben first sees this as good riddance to his browbeating wife and the trouble making Junior, he soon notices signs that Junior is not the monster he appeared. In his drawer is the prune carefully wrapped up and through a series of pictures he drew, he depicts Flo and Big Ben as deformed monsters with hostile surroundings, but depicted Ben as a happy person in a pleasant background, revealing that he really did value him as a father figure all along. Ben, realizing that Junior's behavior was simply a response to how he himself had been treated, and that it has simply been bad luck that he has had to deal with too many cruel and selfish people at such a young age, undertakes a rescue mission to get him back from Beck.

He then confronts his father (who is preparing to make a TV appearance for his mayoral campaign) to loan him the ransom money. When he callously refuses, Ben activates the camera that puts Big Ben unknowingly on live TV, where he ends up revealing his true nature on the news, even mooning the camera. Afterward, Ben steals his neighbor Roy's car and "Super Dad" hat and goes to rescue Junior.

Ben catches up with Beck and Junior at the circus. Junior is rescued after escaping from Beck through a trapeze act and calls Ben Dad for the first time. Beck drives away, but the Healys are now on his trail. After a collision, Flo (who was stuffed in a suitcase), is thrown into the air and lands in the back of a farm truck loaded with pigs. Beck is arrested, but while being put in the police car, he grabs an officers firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...

 and fires at them, hitting Ben in the chest. Thinking he has died, Junior apologizes for all the bad things he did and tells him he will never be naughty again and he loves him. Ben wakes up and tells Junior he loves him, too, and realizes the bullet ricocheted off his good-luck prune he was holding in his pocket. Junior asks Ben if he really believed that he was going to stop misbehaving, but Ben tells Junior he wants him to be himself. Junior then removes his bow tie and throws it over the bridge perhaps as a symbol that he has changed his ways not to be like Martin, but be himself. Junior is then carried home by his new father.

The film ends with Flo in the truck looking out from the suitcase, only to be met by the rump of a pig and it defecates, and then the credits roll with the movie's theme song.

Cast

  • John Ritter
    John Ritter
    Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...

     as Ben Healy, he is a caring person and wants to have a kid. He adopts Junior and bonds with him. He is hated by both his wife, neighbors and father.
  • Michael Oliver
    Michael Oliver (actor)
    Michael Oliver is a former American child actor of the 1990s. Oliver is best known for his role as "Junior" in two Problem Child movies.-Early life and career:...

     as Junior, the main character and the mischievous prankster. He was returned to the orphanange 30 times as he always causes trouble wherever he goes. Junior is often surrounded by selfish people which gives him the need to punish them with his pranks, thus making himself hated by those around him. He has a devious but inventive mind and is also good with electricity and machinery. Junior desires to have a family and he eventually meets Ben, who he develops a bond with as Ben is the only one who is ever nice to him.
  • Jack Warden
    Jack Warden
    Jack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...

     as Big Ben Healy, the rich, but selfish father of Ben. He hates Junior, having called him the devil upon their first meeting. He runs for Mayor of Cold River but lost the election due to insulting the citizens on TV (the result of Ben purposely turning the camera on when Big Ben refuses to help him rescue Junior.)
  • Gilbert Gottfried
    Gilbert Gottfried
    Gilbert Gottfried is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin , and...

     as Igor Peabody, works with the orphanage and thinks that Junior at first is an angel but turns out he is wrong and cons Ben and Flo into taking Junior. Later he reveals that Junior was returned 30 times to the orphanage.
  • Amy Yasbeck
    Amy Yasbeck
    Amy Marie Yasbeck is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Casey Chapel Davenport on the sitcom Wings from 1994-1997.-Early life:...

     as Flo Healy, she is the wife of Ben and hates Junior. The only reason she wanted to adopt was so she could get invited to neighbors' parties and dinners. She is quite selfish and unfaithful to Ben as she makes love to Martin in the kitchen.
  • Michael Richards
    Michael Richards
    Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor, comedian, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld....

     as Martin "The Bow Tie Killer" Beck, the escaped convict and wears a bow tie and says he is just misunderstood. He has cravings for a snack called 'Smiley Pies'.
  • Peter Jurasik
    Peter Jurasik
    Peter Jurasik is an American actor known for his television roles as Londo Mollari in the 1990s science fiction series Babylon 5 and Sid the Snitch on the 1980s series Hill Street Blues and its short-lived spinoff Beverly Hills Buntz.-Career:Among Jurasik's guest appearances are an entomologist in...

     as Roy, Ben and Flo's neighbor. He thinks that he is a Super Dad due to his wife's pregnacy. He scared the kids with a bear costume and was mistaken for a real bear by Ben and is hit with a frying pan.
  • Dennis Dugan
    Dennis Dugan
    Dennis Dugan is an American director, comedian, and actor. He is most famous for his partnership with comedic actor Adam Sandler, with whom he directed the films Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, Just Go With It, and Jack and...

     as Father in the store (cameo)
  • Colby Kline as Lucy, the neighbor's selfish, mean and spoiled 6 year old. She begrudgingly invites Junior to her birthday party at her mother's insistence. She tells Junior he isn't allowed to watch the magic show at her birthday party for touching her presents, but Junior get his revenge by ruinning her party.

Sequels

  1. Problem Child 2
    Problem Child 2
    Problem Child 2 is the 1991 comedy film sequel to the 1990 sleeper hit Problem Child; a continuation of the exploits of an adopted orphan boy who deliberately wreaks havoc everywhere he goes...

    (1991) brought back the original cast in their original roles and picked up where the first film ended. Amy Yasbeck, however, was given a new role with a new dynamic totally opposite her original character.
  2. Problem Child 3: Junior in Love
    Problem Child 3: Junior in Love
    Problem Child 3: Junior in Love is a 1995 American made-for-TV threequel to Problem Child, and is the third and final entry in the Problem Child trilogy. In this sequel, Junior is a preteen and is in love with a girl named Tiffany. However, she does not notice him. Things take a murderous turn when...

    (1995), the final film, Gottfried and Warden reprised their respective roles as Mr. Peabody and Big Ben Healy. Eric Edwards also reprised his role as Murph (he also played Bertha, Murph's sister) However the roles of Junior and Ben Healy were recast. Annie, Trixie, and LaWanda Dumore do not appear in this film, nor are they mentioned.

Animated TV series

There was an animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 TV series that aired in 1993. Gottfried was the only original cast member to be featured as a voice-over actor. This makes him the only person involved in all 3 movies as well as the cartoon. Jack Warden was in all 3 films but not the cartoon.

Deleted scenes

These scenes were absent from the theatrical and home video versions of the film, but were present in TV airings on ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...

:
  • Junior talking to a nun prior to him being adopted.
  • Martin Beck having a flashback before strangling the prison psychiatrist.
  • The Healy's old lady neighbor insulting them for Fuzzball having gone to the bathroom in her flowers (this explains the scene later in the film where Ben drives his car over the flower bed when en route to rescue Junior from Beck).
  • Junior drawing a picture of Ben whacking Roy with a frying pan.
  • Junior piloting an RC helicopter to chase a paperboy and milkman (although cut from theatrical/home video airings, a picture from this scene appears on some home video boxes) and the helicopter ends its journey crashing through the glass panes on the breakfast nook French doors. Some evidence of this scene is in the VHS version, when Beck arrives at the Healys'.
  • Ben making it look like the backpack has $100,000 in it.
  • Beck calling Ben letting him know he has a half hour to come up with 100 grand if he wants to see his wife and kid again.
  • Beck encounters a bearded lady at the circus, who claims she is an ex-girlfriend of his.
  • Before Junior exits the house, Roy yells for Ben to hurry up.
  • At the circus, one of Junior's old nuns spots Ben running around.
  • In some television airings, the final scene where Flo looks out of the suitcase to see the pig's rear end is censored, or replaced by a scene of her looking to see a pig's face.

Reception

Problem Child was not screened for critics prior to its release. It received overwhelmingly negative reviews upon its release and currently holds a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.5 out of 10 on Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

 (IMDb).

Hal Hinson, writing for the Washington Post, noted "Dugan has a brisk, imaginative comic style; he sets up his gags well, so that there's still some surprise in the punch lines when they come. Essentially, the problem here is the same as the problem in Gremlins 2. It's basically about tearing stuff up, and after a while you grow tired of seeing variations on the same joke of a cute kid committing horrible atrocities."

Special DVD release

Problem Child and Problem Child 2 were released together on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on March 2, 2004, as a package entitled Problem Child Tantrum Pack. These films were presented in open-matte full screen only. However, no home video release so far features the bonus footage shown on the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

's TV airings of the film.

Problem Child was re-released on the Family Comedy Pack Quadruple Feature DVD (with other comedy films like Kindergarten Cop
Kindergarten Cop
Kindergarten Cop is a 1990 American comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough police detective, who must go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch drug dealer Cullen Crisp , before Crisp can get to his...

, Kicking & Screaming, and Major Payne
Major Payne
Major Payne is a 1995 comedy film, starring Damon Wayans. The film is a loose remake of the 1955 film The Private War of Major Benson, starring Charlton Heston....

) in anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...

 (being the film's first widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....

 Region 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

release) on August 5, 2008.
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