User reviews

"Problem Child", according to many, is a horrible film in most every way. The film is apparently not good for kids to watch because of all the evil and nasty things Junior does and it has a metascore of 27 and an IMDB score of 5.3....both of which are pretty bad. Despite all this, I somehow like the film...which would make many of my friends and family doubt my sanity. Call it a guilty pleasure!

The story is about a boy who is thoroughly rotten and spends most of the film tormenting those around him...even after he's adopted from the orphanage by a nice but incredibly naive man (John Ritter). Afterwards, the new dad ends up spending most of the movie apologizing to everyone for the atrocities the kid committed.

For me, I loved watching most of the vile and awful things Junior did...which is NOT typical, I know. The problem I had with the film was the ending. While Junior was like Charles Manson Jr. throughout the story, the schmaltzy ending simply didn't ring true in the least. You would think Junior would love traveling the country committing acts of terror with his pen pal, an escaped maniac from prison! For this reason, I give the film a 6...and had the ending been better I would have scored it higher. I know, I know....I should be ashamed of myself for liking this mostly heartless story...but I am not.

This movie is undeniably tasteless, and toward the end it runs out of steam (one car chase too many). BUT...it's often funny, and that has always been the essential mission of a comedy. By the way, this is NOT primarily a kids' film; kids may get a few laughs out of it, but the more subversive asides ("Maybe if you keep moving your hands like that people will think you actually know what you're talking about") are really intended more for adults. (**)

I was expecting to really hate this film, but after seeing it, it wasn't that bad. Yes it was mediocre and crude at times, but absolutely awful, no. There are much worse movies out there, and I will probably be here all night listing them and why they are so bad. I'll drop a few hints, Friedberg-Seltzer movies, Home Alone 4, Cat in the Hat, NeverEnding Story 3 and Superbabies:Baby Geniuses 2 ring a bell? Anyway, the script does have its weak spots, the ending could have been better, Michael Oliver as the truly dysfunctional kid is thoroughly obnoxious at times and the plot is a touch simplistic. That said, it has its good moments, the gags are crude but some of them are amusing, John Ritter is charming in the title role and Gilbert Gottfried is hilarious. The soundtrack ain't half bad either, Amy Yasbeck is effective at playing her character like a total snob,Jack Warden is great and the film is nice to look at. Overall, could have been better but it could have been a hell of a lot worse as well. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Man, some people have no sense of humor. When I saw this movie as a youngin i didn't get it much. Then I saw it again a few years later and I busted a gut. If you don't want your kids to see it, don't let them. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.

Problem Child 2 was pretty funny, but Problem Child 3 (made for TV) really blew. They couldn't even get the rights to "Bad to the Bone."

The seven-year-old orphan Junior (Michael Oliver) has been rejected thirty times by his foster parents since he was a baby because he is wicked. He worships the criminal Martin Beck (Michael Richards) and wears a a bow tie just like his idol. Ben (John Ritter) is a good affectionate man that dreams on being a father. However his flashy wife Flo (Amy Yasbeck) is infertile and he convinces her to adopt a child. The couple is lured by Mr. Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) that manages an orphanage and they adopt the little devil Junior. When Ben's father Big Ben (Jack Warden) meets the boy, he immediately tells that Junior is evil. Soon Ben learns that his father is correct; will he call off the adoption?

"Problem Child" is a brainless film with unpleasant characters. Ben and the psychologist are dorks; Junior and Martin Beck are mean; Big Ben is selfish and Flo is ambitious and unfaithful. The situations are politically incorrect bu also very funny. If the viewer shutdown his or her brain, he or she will find a hilarious movie and laugh a lot. The best scene is the interview of the psychologist with the psychopath criminal. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Pestinha" ("The Little Devil")

I really enjoyed this film - which was truly different.

To be honest, I'm absolutely fed up with portrays of children (especially in commercials and family movies). Children are always portrayed as so cuuuuuuute and nice - actually, I'm worried about getting tooth decay because of the sweetness involved.

Problem Child is just different - the child is a complete evil brat which causes havoc during the whole movie.

Basically, the film concentrates on showing the evil side of children - and yes, people, there is a cruelty in children. Do you remember your own childhood? The bully who loved to harass weaker children? How about children treat outsiders, like fat/ugly peers? What about kids torturing animals like flies or frogs?

Sure - this comedy is far of and unrealistic, but so are cuuuuuuute and sweet family movies.

So - I quite like the movie, it's a black comedy which is a nice counterpoint to sweet & cute comedies like Home Alone.

7 / 10

I'm not a fan of comedies but any movie that starts with a scene of school children writing to their penpals with the following dialogue :

" Dear Queen Elizabeth . How is England ? "

" Dear Bishop Tutu . How are you ? "

" Dear bow tie serial killer . I have all your newspaper articles "

has something going for it , and the best thing about PROBLEM CHILD is the amount of very bad taste comedy . It's almost like a Farrelly Brothers comedy ( THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY , KINGPIN etc ) in both feel and execution . Okay so it's a goofy movie , okay some of the acting is poor , and okay you can see some of the jokes coming a mile away ( Oh a bear costume . I bet a real bear will turn up within the next five minutes ) but I watched it on TV one wet Sunday afternoon and had a few laughs

I can't help thinking that the poor response from many forum members might be down to the fact that this was marketed as a " family comedy " . I can just imagine many parents renting this from the video store , taking it home and watching it with their cherubs only to find it features attacks on religion and family pets . I reckon Joe Stalin would have enjoyed this movie as much as I did

A baby is left on a woman's doorstep. However it doesn't go well and the baby keeps getting pass along. Junior (Michael Oliver) is a real problem child. Even the nuns can't take him. Ben (John Ritter) and Flo Healy (Amy Yasbeck) are completely 100% infertile. His father Big Ben Healy (Jack Warden) sells the sporting goods store and is leaving him with nothing. He would love to adopt but Florence is selfish who only agrees to adopt so that she can join other parents at parties. Adoption agent Igor Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) cons the Healys into taking Junior. Junior is a pen pal to prison inmate The Bow Tie Killer Martin Beck (Michael Richards). Then Beck escapes from prison and shows up at their door.

Junior isn't funny or cute or anything. Ritter is reacting. Yasbeck is annoying. It's not funny at all and it's basically the same joke over and over again anyways. It tries to have heart but it doesn't work. There is nobody to care about. This dark comedy needs a better child actor and a more interesting sense of humor. Him taking a bat to everybody is actually good but it's a rare smirk worthy joke.

This isn't really a bad film in which people make this out to be, when i check this link and saw 4.0 i thought people have no taste in a good comedy, come on people this movie is quiet a good laugh, the things junior leaves me in stitches, the type of things he does to the nuns is the best, and the way he got the little girl back at the party was quiet good also, she ask what for what she got. I prefer the old comedy's like this, good clean humor with out the filth in todays comedy's in which i don't find funny, i cant see what is funny in bad language. This movie mainly has some language in which is suitable to children, and some scenes of comic violence in which makes it funny. Personally i found this on of the best comedy's of the early 90's

People who actually liked Problem Child (1990) need to have their heads examined. Who would take the idea of watching a malevolent little boy wreak havoc on others and deem it funny? The movie is not funny, ever, in any way, beginning to end. It wants to be a cartoon, but the writers don't realize that slapstick isn't funny when people get attacked by bears, or hit with baseball bats. It may be funny in cartoons, but not in a motion picture.

The film's young hero is Junior (Michael Oliver) who, since he was a baby, has been placed at the front doors of foster parents for adoption. The families reject him, because Junior tends to give them a hard time.

He is then thrown into an orphanage, where he terrorizes the nuns, and writes pen pal letters to the convicted Bow-Tie Killer (Michael Richards). He is soon adopted by Ben and Flo Healy (the late John Ritter and his wife, Amy Yasbeck), who are dying to have a child, in order to be just like every other parent in their neighborhood.

Junior becomes a member of the Healy household, and "Little" Ben takes an interest in him, despite the fact that he destroys a camping trip by luring a bear onto the site, or throws a cat at his father "Big" Ben (Jack Warden), a bigoted politician.

I think that we're supposed to care for Junior so that we can root for him when he gets his revenge on people. His new mother, Flo, is a bitch, his grandfather is completely selfish, and one little girl--who despises adopted kids--is such a spoiled brat.

But what Junior does to get the last laughs isn't funny- -it's mean, cruel, and sometimes life-threatening.

And what is the film's message? That kids should resolve problems with violence and vandalism? That they should seek friendship by writing to convicted killers? They definitely don't what it's like to be a bad kid. Junior isn't a one--he's just a sadistic, little twerp. There used to be a time when it was bad for kids to beat up others. Now, everybody's laughing when Junior beats up kids with a baseball bat.

It's a shame that this movie has been marketed as a "family comedy." What's worse is that Problem Child is rated PG. What was the MPAA thinking when they saw this? There's a lot of profanity and mean-spirited pranks here, that one may wonder about the dividing between the PG and the PG-13.

Kids will enjoy this, but parents will be shocked at what is being depicted on screen. And to most people, Problem Child will be considered a "guilty pleasure" classic; a film that someone will shamefacedly admit to liking, even though the prevailing opinion, as put forth by more serious viewers, is that the movie is a piece of crap.

i guess i am one of the few people that find this movie hilarious, i watch it every time it's on tv, i rent it.. etc. i have no idea why people seem to be so offended by it, you must be some mean grandparents or something. it's just a MOVIE and it's not supposed to be taken so seriously..

The 90s were certainly cluttered with those "'fill in the blank' from Hell" movies. (The Best Friend from Hell ("Single White Female"), the Temp Employee from Hell ("The Temp"), etc.) Here at the beginning of the decade, we got this "kid from Hell" flick from the writers of "Ed Wood", and it is indeed like a comic spin on "The Bad Seed". Michael Oliver (what ever happened to him?) plays "Junior", a thoroughly obnoxious devil-child who often makes life miserable for people, including his new adoptive parents, Ben (John Ritter) and Flo (Amy Yasbeck). Yet underneath that ultra-bratty exterior does lurk a kid who's crying out for love and attention.

In that sense, this viewer wonders how it would have played if Junior were *completely* unrepentant and never revealed any inkling towards sensitivity or vulnerability. Not all children in real life are perfect little angels, after all. It might have been refreshing, but this being a Hollywood movie, we have to have that glimmer of hope and, ultimately, that happy ending.

Undeniably, "Problem Child" can be crude and childish, but it's still fitfully amusing what with its outrageous gags. In one twisted touch, Junior thinks psycho-killer / sleaze ball Martin Beck (a scenery devouring Michael "Kramer" Richards) is a cool guy to emulate, and becomes pen pals with him.

Basically, if one can tolerate the variety of disagreeable characters here, they may get through the movie. Ben is a typical Nice Guy who tries his mightiest to be patient, but he's also kind of a dope. It takes a lot before he snaps. Flo is a superficial wannabe social climber. Ben's dad (Jack Warden) is a crass jerk (and sporting goods magnate) running for mayor. There are snooty kids who raise Juniors' ire. And, of course, we have Gilbert Gottfried on hand for good measure.

Some of the more entertaining gags occur at the birthday party; overall, "Problem Child" does have its moments. The closing theme song was performed by the Beach Boys, of all people.

Followed by two sequels, the second made for TV.

Six out of 10.

It's a testament to how much I hate this movie that I sought it out just so I could give it a 1. I would give it the finger but that wouldn't be ladylike. The little boy's "tricks" aren't just instances of being mischievious, but very "Damien" like. I kept waiting for his head to spin around. I used to compare all movies to "Ratboy". I would compare this movie in relation to Ratboy, as it's equal because of its failure to generate in me, anything more than disgust and out right anger.

This movie was great when I was 7, and it's still great now that I'm 17. First of all, it never encouraged me to misbehave--if it did so to someone else's kids then I question that person's ability to parent. Second, some of the scenes were downright hilarious, especially the slapstick/visual humor that I got then, and the more sophisticated verbal humor that the adults use that I get now. It produced memories that make me smile to this day: "Look, a giraffe!" "Look, a fist!" Michael Richards was pure genius casting as the Bow-Tie Killer. I'll concede that this movie is no bastion of film making excellence, but it's good for a few unsophisticated laughs.

"Problem Child" is one of the goofiest movies ever made. It's not the worst (though some people will disagree with me on that), but it's not the best either. It's about a devilish 7-year-old boy who wrecks comic havoc on a childless couple (John Ritter, Amy Yasbeck) who foolishly adopts him. This film is too silly and unbelievable because I don't buy for one second that a child could act as unrurly as the kid does in this film. It's asinine and preposterous although I did laugh several times throughout (I really don't know why). But I can't recommend this film. I know I'm being too kind to it. If there is one positive thing about "Problem Child" is that it's better than the sequel which was just awful.

** (out of four)

Oh c'mon. Is hollywood really that idiotic to waste it's time and it's money on this crap? I can't begin to tell you how bad this movie is. It's unfunny, stupid, and annoying as hell. I wanted to torch that little brat with a flamethrower before the first ten minutes were up! This movie is just wretched. I had to restrain my brother because he was ready to run his car over the tape. The only time I found this movie funny was when Robert De Niro, as Max Cady in "Cape Fear", came into the movie theater and laughed like a maniac at it. It's just ridiculous that anyone would laugh so much at an insidiously unfunny movie. People should boycott this movie, or sue hollywood for making it!

To be a film with a smart and naughty boy annoying the elders (shot in 1990, the same year as "Home Alone" by Chris Columbus), is an authentic gem, based on the iconic pedigree of some of those involved in the film: John Ritter ("Three's Company", among many other good and funny comedies), Michael Richards (Jerry Seinfeld's beloved and disinterested neighbor and unfortunate in his later film career, it is said that because of "Seinfeld's curse", already That neither Julia Louis-Dreyfus nor Jason Alexander did any important work afterwards) as the histrionic and evil psychopath and the always magnificent Jack Warden, leaving to the end what, in my opinion, the most important and powerful: the powerful beginning with the "Bad to the bone" (the same one that sounds when Arnold Schwarzenegger removes the glasses to the rude biker and leaves in the Harley in Terminator 2), every time that Junior does one of his own. Fun, entertaining and absolutely recommended.

From start to finish this bald attempt to cash in on the cheeky little boy attraction of once irresistible Macauly Culkin scrabbles vainly around in the bottom of the barrel of children's entertainment, and manages one singular achievement: to not create a single moment that can produce any reaction other than cringing. Mindless children's fun is all very well, but this film goes far beyond mindless into the realms spirit destruction. Pages and pages of the strongest expletives known to man would not even begin to allow me to express what I feel about this film, so I had better stop here. If you haven't seen it, choose a pineapple enema over it, if you have, then get help, you need it.

This movie is often perceived as the toxic chemical runoff of early 90's children entertainment, but in reality it has more in common with the adults of that time. This is a cynical movie, literally everyone, save one person, is a terrible human being. From the overbearing wife who only wants a child to use as a social tool, to the money-grabbing grandfather who hates his son and grand-son, to the freaking nuns who attempt to eject the "problem child" in question from their orphanage, this movie is dark. That is not to say that all of it is good, the narration by the child is a typical "rambunctious and hilarious" attempt that would make John Connor in T2 blush.If you can tread through the obnoxious 90's child crap, prepare to see a surprisingly entertaining film.

I have to admit I've caught this one a few times on the USA Network. There's just something about the, well, sheer stupidity of this flick which makes me want to watch it whenever it's on. Yes, you're right about the sub-par acting, the plot which only an seven year old could like, etc. But I can't help feeling sympathetic toward some of the actors. Then again, a few of these actors signed up for the even more atrocious sequel.

Ever since I saw this on TV when I was little, I've loved this movie! I love the the plot and direction of this movie and thought everyone was cast perfectly. Junior is a mean-spirited kid that nobody wants. When Ben and Florence Healy consider adopting a kid, Mr. Peabody persuades them to take Junior. Soon after, havoc ensues. My favorite scene is at the birthday party when he throws presents in the pool, puts exploding candles on the cake, and puts pickles in the piñata. Everybody in Ben Healy's life starts hating Junior, but Ben doesn't want to give up, until Junior drives the family car into Ben's dad's store. When a psychopathic killer escapes, he kidnaps Junior and Florence, but at first, Ben doesn't care, until he finds out that the entire time, Junior liked him. Ben saves Junior and tries to stop the bad guy! I highly recommend PROBLEM CHILD!!!

This movie was great ! Very funny and even though John Ritter was in it , it was art . I personally like Problem Child 2 the best , but this one was probably better . The Cartoon was also a great show. It's just too bad some people didn't like it , this movie could have gotten super star status . The DVD is cool too , check this movie and its 2 others out !

My Take: A film equivalent of fingernails on the chalkboard.

I remember watching this when I was a kid, and can't decide if I would like it or hate it. Nowadays, that I know the differences between a good movie and a bad movie, I definitely know where this one goes. I'll make this quick, "Problem Child" is senseless, hokey and gross, but never in a good sort of way. I really am not looking forward to watch it again.

The film suffers in miscasting and bad performances. Sure, John Ritter may be comfortable in such a role, but poor Jack Warden, he is sucked into a role that's unsuitable for a big name such as himself. But one of the most annoying thing about this movie is Michael Oliver, as the annoying adopted boy Junior. I hate almost all about that boy. His voice is atrocious and his antics, unbelievably annoying. Trust me, once you see that boy, you'll hate him for sure.

But what startles me about this movie is the fact that a lot of viewers fancy this movie, despite how horrible it really is. Okay, it's funny sometimes, but eventually tiresome. The kid does it all because he wants to. I don't know who to hate more in the movie, Junior, or his enemies. But when I grew up, I knew, not who, but what to hate most. The movie itself.

Okay, if the kids want it, buy or rent it, at your own risk. But trust me, it's a waste.

Rating: 0 out of 5.