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Problem Child
Theatrical release poster
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
Language	English
Budget	$10 million[1]
Gross revenue	$53,470,900
Followed by	Problem Child 2 (1991) Problem Child 3 (1995)
All Movie Guide 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 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Sequels 3.1 Animated TV series 3.2 Special DVD release 4 Trivia 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

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 Junior's new mother.

• John Ritter as "Little" Ben Healy
• Jack Warden as "Big" Ben Healy
• Michael Oliver as Junior
• Gilbert Gottfried as Mr. Igor Peabody
• Amy Yasbeck as Florence "Flo" Healy
• Michael Richards as Martin Beck / "Bow Tie Killer"
• Peter Jurasik as Roy

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.

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.

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.

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The poster for the movie was a spoof of the poster for Parenthood (1989).

• In the film Cape Fear, Robert De Niro, playing the part of an eccentric, newly released prisoner, watching a comedy film in the cinema, laughs so loudly and continuously that his 'enemy' sitting just one row behind him, with his wife, gets irritated enough to leave. The film being shown is Problem Child.

• It was considered by some to be offensive towards adopted children, particularly when Mrs. Healy yells (before deciding to adopt Junior), "I don't wear secondhand clothes, and I don't want a secondhand kid!". Later another girl upsets Junior by saying that he "...is adopted. He is not even a real kid !"

• Closing theme song Problem Child was the 70th single release for The Beach Boys (Problem Child/Tutti Frutti (with Little Richard) (RCA 2646/July, 1990).

• In the scene where Ben Healy angrily walks up to Junior's bedroom is a reference to the film The Shining (1980).

• USA Network airing of the film features deleted scenes not in home video or theatrical release.

• Problem Child 2 (1991)
• Problem Child 3: Junior in Love (1995)

• Problem Child at the Internet Movie Database
• Problem Child at All Movie Guide
• Problem Child Trailer at VideoDetective.com

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)