Problem Child (1990 film)

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Problem Child
Directed by Dennis Dugan
Produced by Robert Simonds
Written by Scott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski
Starring John Ritter
Jack Warden
Michael Oliver
Gilbert Gottfried
Amy Yasbeck
Michael Richards
Music by Miles Goodman
Cinematography Peter Lyons Collister
Editing by Tom Finan
Daniel P. Hanley
Mike Hill
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Imagine Entertainment
Release date(s) July 27, 1990
Running time 78 min.
Country Flag of the United States
Language English
Budget $10 million[1]
Gross revenue $53,470,900
Followed by Problem Child 2 (1991)
Problem Child 3 (1995)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Problem Child is a 1990 comedy about an orphan child that deliberately wreaks havoc everywhere he goes. It starred John Ritter, Amy Yasbeck, Gilbert Gottfried, Jack Warden, Michael Richards and Michael Oliver.

Contents

[edit] Taglines

[edit] Plot

Ben Healy (John Ritter) is a pleasant but brow-beaten yuppie working for his father "Big Ben" (Jack Warden), a tyrannical sporting goods dealer. Ben would love to have a son, but his obnoxious wife Flo (Amy Yasbeck) has been unable to conceive. Ben approaches less-than-scrupulous adoption agent Igor Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) with his dilemma, and Igor presents Ben and Flo with a cute 7-year-old boy, Junior (Michael Oliver). However, Junior is hardly a model child; mean-spirited and incorrigible, the child leaves a path of serious destruction in his wake, and is even pen pals with Martin Beck (Michael Richards), a notorious serial killer. After the cat ends up in the hospital, the house catches on fire, and Junior displays his effective but unethical method for winning in Little League (involves hitting rival players in the crotch with a baseball bat), Ben is having serious doubts about Junior when Beck escapes from jail and decides to kidnap his faithful correspondent, along with Flo. While Ben first sees this as good riddance to his browbeating wife and the trouble making Junior, when he sees signs that Junior did value him as a father figure Ben undertakes a rescue mission to get Junior back from Beck.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Sequels

Two sequels followed:

  1. Problem Child 2 (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 (1995), the final film, Gottfried and Warden reprised their respective roles as Mr. Peabody and Big Ben Healy.

[edit] Animated TV series

Main article: Problem Child (TV series)

There was an animated TV series that aired in 1993. Gottfried was the only original cast member to be featured as a voice-over actor.

[edit] Special DVD release

Problem Child and Problem Child 2 were released together on DVD in the U.S. on March 2, 2004, as a package entitled Problem Child Tantrum Pack However, no home video release so far features the bonus footage shown on the USA Network's TV airings of the film.


[edit] Scenes cut from theatrical version but present in USA airings

  • Junior talking to a nun prior to his being adopted.
  • The Bow Tie Killer having a flashback before strangling the prison psychologist.
  • The Healy's old lady neighbor insulting them for Fuzzball having gone to the bathroom in her flowers.
  • Junior drawing a picture of Ben whacking Roy with a frying pan.
  • Junior terrorizing the milkman and paperboy with an RC helicopter (although cut from theatrical/home video airings, a picture from this scene appears on some home video boxes.)
  • Ben making it look like the backpack has $100,000 in it.
  • The Bow Tie Killer encounters a bearded lady at the circus.
  • Before Junior exits the house, Roy yells for Ben to hurry up.
  • Mr. Peabody inquiring as to whether the Healys cared what hair and eye color the kid they wanted to adopt had (forcefully suggesting "brown hair and brown eyes" while trying to talk them into adopting Junior).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Problem Child (1990) - Box office / business

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Dennis Dugan

Problem Child (1990) • Brain Donors (1992) • Happy Gilmore (1996) • Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) • Big Daddy (1999) • Saving Silverman (2001) • National Security (2003) • The Benchwarmers (2006) • I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) • You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)