He's so bad, even the nuns refused to keep him.
"Just this morning, I came upon a seven-year-old. He's smart as a tack, a little rambunctious, but, weren't we all at that age?"
— Igor Peabody, introducing the Healys to Junior for the first time
Problem Child is a 1990 comedy film, the first film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring John Ritter. It surrounds the destructive antics of a seven-year-old boy known only as Junior, who has been shuffled from foster home to foster home. He ultimately lands in the hapless custody of good-hearted Ben Healy, and his wife, Flo. While Flo merely wants the social status that comes with being a mother, and quickly despises Junior, Ben just can't bring himself to give up on him. In the meantime, Junior unleashes a kind of Comedic Sociopathy on neighborhood kids and adults that hasn't been seen since Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
It was followed by two sequels, Problem Child 2 and the Made-for-TV Movie Problem Child 3: Junior in Love. Details and specific trope examples pertaining said movies can be found in those respective work pages. There was also an animated television series based on the movies. Its page is here.
Tropes present in all movies, or exclusively in the first:
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Tropes present in all Problem Child movies
- Adults Are Useless: Almost every adult in the films is either cruel, clueless, or makes no effort to rein in Junior's tendencies and give him a nurturing environment. Ben subverts this a little bit, but his efforts are undone by his own spinelessness. Subverted with Lucy's mom, who forces her daughter to let Junior come to her party.
- Anti-Role Model: Junior is far from evil, but still ill-mannered and behaves poorly.
- Babysitter's Nightmare: Junior is characterized as a holy terror through this trope, being passed from foster family to foster family before winding up in the care of an orphan home run by nuns. This is before he meet the Healys, and the man who would become his dad.
- It's All About Me: Flo Healy and LaWanda Dumore only care about making themselves look good.
- Meaningful Name: Ben Healy literally heals Junior.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Gottfried's character, Mr. Peabody, was an adoption agent in the first film, a principal in the second (and cartoon) and a dentist in the third.
- Nice Guy: Ben Healy is the nicest person in the series, hands down, because he genuinely loves Junior even when he's bad. The problem is that a lot of people find it easy to take advantage of that kindness.
- Re-Cut: Both 1 and 2 aired on television, edited for content, but with newly-added scenes to make up for what was cut. You can watch them here
and here. - Shout-Out: Below is a list of examples from all three movies:
- The poster of the 1st movie resembles that of Parenthood.
- In 3, when Murph (Eric Edwards) introduces Junior to his sister Bertha (played by Edwards in drag), Junior says "Who let her out of Jurassic Park?" Both Jurassic Park and Problem Child franchises are Universal releases.
- Also in the third film, Dr. Peabody wears a Watchmen button on his suit.
- Standard Snippet: Junior's Leitmotif is George Thorogood and the Destroyers' "Bad To The Bone", and the opening riff sounds pretty often when he's causing mayhem.
- World of Jerkass: The number of genuinely nice people you'll find in this setting can be counted on one hand. Kids Are Cruel (not just Junior, but many others as well, whom Junior often gets brutal revenge on), adults are passive-aggressive at best and sourpuss Jerkasses at worst, and often times the only one who seems to have a heart is Ben Healy.
Tropes exclusive to the first movie
- Adoption Diss: Lucy Henderson's friends say that Junior's "not even a real kid. He's adopted." Even the adults look down on Junior being adopted from Big Ben saying that his parents were psychopaths or Democrats to even Ben’s Jerkass “friend” Roy patronizingly referring to Junior being from the “kid emporium.”
- All Just a Dream: The TV version adds a scene during Martin's ink blot test, in which he hallucinates, and dreams about being set to the electric chair, and escaping from it in the process, but not before sending the Warden to it.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: The nuns throw a celebration at the orphanage when Ben Healy decides to adopt Junior.
- And You Thought It Was a Game: Ben Healy encounters a bear at a campsite, and, believing it to be a friend in costume, acts playfully towards it. He soon realizes that the bear is an actual animal. During the ensuing panic, the bear retreats and the actual friend dressed as a bear arrives, whom Ben hits over the head with a skillet.
- "Bang!" Flag Gun: While chasing down Marty and Junior at the circus, Ben fires at the former with (what he doesn't know to be) one. ...Like a circus would keep the real thing around where someone can find it.
- Batter Up!: Junior's dad gives him the tip of "holding onto the bat" after two strikes. After hitting the ball, he holds onto the bat while making his way to the bases and uses it to beat up anyone in his way.
- Bears Are Bad News: During the camp scene, Roy wanted to scare everyone wearing a bear costume. The prank goes south when Junior finds a real bear and brings it to the camp with a steak.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Junior is shown to actually like Ben as a father, since Ben was the first person to adopt him to actually treat him better.
- Big Bad: Martin, aka the Bow Tie Killer, the escaped convict who Junior writes letters to, becomes a bigger danger to Ben's family than Junior could ever be.
- Birthday Party Goes Wrong: Junior goes to a Lucy's birthday party. She and her other guests mistreat him and exclude him from many activities (because "he's not even a real kid; he's adopted"), so Junior takes his revenge on her by doing the following: filling the pinata with the contents of several pickle jars, throwing her presents in the pool, putting a live frog in the punch bowl, and replacing the cake's candles with firecrackers.
- Butt-Monkey: Mother Superior. Eventually, Ben and Flo themselves. Practically anyone under Junior's sly revengeful stunts.
- Catching Your Doom: When the warden shows up to mock him, Martin Beck throws a dumbbell at him. The warden catches the dumbbell, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the railing he's standing on. He survives but is seen in an arm sling later on.
- Chekhov's Gun: The dried-up prune Ben carries around as a good luck charm, which ends up saving his life when he takes a bullet for Junior.
- Circling Birdies: After a disastrous camping trip which ended with the buffoonish Roy getting a Frying Pan of Doom to the head, the TV cut includes a scene where Junior gleefully makes a painting of the incident in which he adds circling birdies around Roy's head. Little Ben admonishes him: "You know in real life, people dont get birdies on their head when they get knocked out. They get concussions, like Roy did."
- Comically Small Demand: After the disastrous birthday party that he realizes Junior instigated, Ben at first considers spanking him but instead orders Junior to return his allowance of $1. Junior, having stolen hundreds of dollars by now, has to shuffle through his drawer for a one-dollar bill.Junior: *thinking* "I wonder if he's got change for a $20?"
- Copycat Mockery: Junior repeats what Mr. Peabody says and does during a conversation with the nuns.
- Corrupt Politician: Big Ben has absolutely no loyalty to the office he is running for, and all his campaign promises are Blatant Lies. Fortunately, he's exposed as a phony at the end.
- Crying at Your Birthday Party: The movie has Lucy Henderson bursting in tears and throwing a tantrum as she sees Junior sabotage her birthday party (as payback for kicking him out of the magic show) such as putting frogs in the punch, dynamite in the cake after removing the candles, pickles and the juice in the pinata, throwing out all her presents into the pool, and setting off a water hose in her bedroom. She regains her composure after she's done crying to realize Junior is the obvious culprit. Naturally, the entire sequence is scored with Lesley Gore's signature song "It's My Party".
- Doomed Supermarket Display: Big Ben Healy's sporting goods store has an enormous glass display box filled with tennis balls that reaches up to the rafters. No points for guessing what Junior plows into when he steals Little Ben's car.
- Doorstop Baby: Junior was left at a random door, and this was repeated for each set of adoptive parents even when he outgrew the basket.
- Dynamite Candle: Junior replaces the candles on Lucy's birthday cake with firecrackers, blowing the cake up and splattering everyone with it.
- Ear Ache: Junior gets dragged out of the cafeteria by his ear after his salisbury steak (which he'd thrown up to the ceiling to keep from eating) lands on the face of a nun. This gets the nuns to petition Mr. Peabody for getting rid of him.Junior: OWWW! Hey, lady, hands off the merchandise! I've gotta hear out of that thing! OWWW!
- Especially Zoidberg:Big Ben: Is there a lesson to be learned from all this? How about don't trust anyone?
Little Ben: Not even your own father?
Big Ben: Especially your own father! - Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Bow-Tie Killer is the nickname of Martin Beck.
- Evil Counterpart: The Bow Tie Killer to Ben Healy. Junior has a fondness for both of them, however while Ben is genuinely caring, compassionate and a doting father to Junior, The Bow Tie Killer is sociopathic, ruthless and intends on using Junior as a means to an end, nothing more.
- Fostering for Profit: Over the course of the film, Flo Healy is more concerned about the status and prestige that having a child would give her, and a scene prior to Junior's adoption shows she's bitter about not being invited to children parties because she doesn't have one. By contrast, her husband Ben is more interested in being a father rather than the benefits he could gain from it.
- Groin Attack:
- The climax of the baseball scene ends with Junior hitting the catcher's balls with the bat. "We've adopted Satan."
- Also, in response to Beck's offer of terrorizing the state together, Junior kicks him right there.
- I Have a Family: Mayor Healy and Principal Peabody failed to keep their end of a bargain with mobsters. Healy played straight with the trope by stating he had a family. Peabody, on the other hand, said he didn't have one but could get one.
- I Have Your Wife: And adopted son. Beck at first uses this blackmail on Ben to get $100,000 in cash. Ben at first decides "Screw 'em, I want to be left alone!" but then has a change-of-heart for Junior upon seeing an impressive drawing of himself. But he still lets Beck keep Flo.
- I Love the Smell of X in the Morning:Junior: [After breaking several milk bottles] I love the smell of spilled milk in the morning. It smells like victory. note
- Inappropriate Role Model: Junior idolizes the Bow Tie Killer. Well, until the Bow Tie Killer escapes from prison and visits his "youngest fan". With clearly murderous intentions.
- Inkblot Test: The prison psychiatrist is giving a Rorschach test to the Bow Tie Killer (Martin Beck), only the "inkblots" are actually bloodstains left by his victims. While the warden is in the room he lies, saying he sees things like butterflies and bunnies hopping across fields. This enrages the warden, and the psychiatrist forces him to leave. Once the warden leaves, the psychiatrist continues the test, and the Bow Tie Killer says he sees blood, and kills the psychiatrist, puts on his clothes and drives out of prison. Why no one was watching what was going on from behind a two-way mirror is anyone's guess.
- Is This Thing Still On?: Shortly before the climax, Ben asks his Jerkass father Big Ben for money to pay the ransom of his kidnapped wife and son while the former is preparing for his Mayor campaign speech. When he turns him down, Ben then asks "Hey, Dad! Why don't you tell all the voters what you really plan on doing with this town?" and surreptitiously turns on the camera:Big Ben: I don't give a rat's ass for the voters! All I care about is the power and the power that'll give me the money. That's why I'm a success and you're not! America for the Americans. If you believe that nonsense, you're even stupider than I thought! I'd sell my soul to the Japanese if they made me an offer! And as for you, don't come suckering around me if you want something! The only thing you'll get from me is this! (moons the camera)
- Japan Takes Over the World: Big Ben Healy mentions that he's selling his store and his land to Japanese businessmen. If you watch carefully during the baseball game, you can even see them briefly. His freely admitting it on what he didn't know was a live camera ends up destroying his mayoral campaign.
- Jerkass: Big Ben Healy. The same with Flo. The same with many of the children, especially towards Junior. Junior himself is a quite a bit of one in his own way, but is shown to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in the end.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While expecting his son to be more ruthless and backstabbing isn't the way to correct it, Big Ben is right when he tells Little Ben that he's too nice, to the point of being an Extreme Doormat. Little Ben's main Character Development revolves around learning to stand up for himself and put his foot down when necessary, without compromising his kind nature.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Several examples:
- Lucy only invites Junior so she can get ice cream, balloons, and a clown, and says Junior can't participate in the activities and agrees with the girl who says that "He's not even a real kid; he's adopted." Junior
ruins her party in epic fashion as payback. - The little league players who mock Ben and Junior get a well deserved beatdown, and Junior slides under the catcher with the bat for two balls (heh) with one strike.
- Ben sinking his Jerkass father's mayoral campaign (See Is This Thing Still On?).
- Flo is thrown into a pig truck headed for Mexico while still inside a suitcase.
- Lucy only invites Junior so she can get ice cream, balloons, and a clown, and says Junior can't participate in the activities and agrees with the girl who says that "He's not even a real kid; he's adopted." Junior
- Leitmotif: The Bow Tie Killer has a harmonica tune playing whenever he comes on-screen.
- Mooning: Big Ben does this without realizing that the camera is on.
- No Accounting for Taste: Ben is a Nice Guy while Flo is a self-centered harpy. The two share absolutely nothing in common.
- Noisy Nature: Fuzzball the cat usually reacts to Junior by growling and screaming, but the noises are obviously dubbed in and the animal's body language shows it to be perfectly calm and content.
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: The Bow-Tie Killer claims he's this. Junior, however, actually plays it straight because he's a nice enough kid if he's treated like a human being.
- Nun Too Holy: The nuns at the orphanage are downright mean, and they eventually use underhanded tactics to trick the Healeys into adopting Junior.
- Object Ceiling Cling: A scene features Junior stabbing his fork into a concoction vaguely resembling mashed potatoes, stretching it like a rubber band, and shooting it upward so it sticks to the ceiling.
- Oh, Crap!: The parrot's reaction to Junior upon his arrival at the Healy house.
- Orphanage of Fear: Zig-Zagged Trope. None of the children ostensibly want to live there and the nuns are downright assholes to Junior, but they otherwise aren't shown to mistreat any other kids, with Mother Superior even sweetly saying goodbye to one boy who'd found an adoptive home (and a deleted scene has her taking some kids to the carnival). For his part, Junior also doesn't do much to ingratiate himself, so even if the nuns are jerks it's not like they're singling him out just for the hell of it.
- Papa Wolf:
- Ben, when he meets up with Martin at the Circus.Little Ben Healy: "What did you say you Bow-Tie freak? NOBODY hurts my boy, now let him go!"
- Same thing later on, when he uses himself as a shield to protect Junior from being shot by Martin.
- Ben, when he meets up with Martin at the Circus.
- Pocket Protector: Ben survives a bullet to the chest because it hits an old, dried prune he had in his shirt pocket. In a subversion, the bullet goes straight through one or two other mementos in the same pocket.Ben: It's all right, officer... he got me in the prune.
- Pranking Montage: A scene has Junior going on a prank spree aimed to ruin the birthday party of a girl who was treating him like crap, including things like redirecting a blindfolded kid trying to pin the tail on the donkey, filling a pinata with pickle juice, and putting a frog in the punch bowl. It all culminates in Junior blowing up the big cake with firecrackers that he replaced the candles with, which ends up getting him in big trouble.
- Rage Breaking Point: Ben finally gets to this point when one of Junior's stunts bankrupts him. He only barely stops himself from smothering Junior, and allows Beck to kidnap him.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The music during the bear attack is recycled from the 1987 film Real Men, also scored by Miles Goodman and also starring John Ritter.
- Spoiled Brat: There's nothing nice at all about Lucy Henderson who definitely deserved what was coming to her, and even her own mom came close to punishing her by threatening to cancel her party. Flo is an adult version in that she spoils herself and forces Ben to cave into her every wish.
- Surprisingly Functional Toys: A cut sequence usually reinserted for TV airings has Junior tormenting the neighborhood with a gas-powered (judging by the smoke) toy helicopter gunship in an homage to Apocalypse Now. The toy chopper somehow also has real, fully-functional machine guns onboard, which he uses to destroy bottles set out by the milkman and a newspaper thrown by the paperboy.
- Taking the Bullet: Ben does this for Junior at the climax when the Bow-Tie Killer shoots at him. Fortunately the dried plum saves him.
- Take That!: This line from Big Ben Healy speaks for itself.Big Ben Healy: "Happy? You don't know what you're letting yourself in for. For all you know, his parents may have met in the looney bin. They might even be Democrats!"
- Tinkle in the Eye: In the beginning scene, we see a woman walking in the rain with a basket carrying the then baby Junior to leave him in front of a house. The house's owner picks him up and wonders why someone would abandon such a beautiful baby, and she gets her answer when Junior pees on her.
- Trophy Child: Flo Healy is desperate to have a child, albeit more because she doesn't get invited to social parties with children as she doesn't have one. Contrast this with her husband Ben, who is more interested in being a father rather than the social privileges that come with it.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Seven-year-old Junior, who causes chaos for the sake of it. He delights in hurting people, torturing cats, getting behind the wheel and driving recklessly and causing accidents, all without remorse. In one scene, Junior sets fire to someone's house; blows up a girl's birthday party, making her cry; takes pictures of nuns while they're undressing; and takes a good shot at a priest using the toilet. Junior also looks up to a criminal the majority of the film and aspires to be just like him. Ben, Junior's well-meaning, good-hearted adoptive father, puts up with Junior's behavior for the majority of the film and is patient about it, despite the rest of his family telling him to get rid of him, with his wife even suggesting to replace the boy and get another cat. Averted in the ending, when Junior does a Heel–Face Turn after he is kidnapped by his "idol" and apologies to Ben for his behavior. While Played for Laughs, Junior's behavior can be seen as accurately depicting a severe personality disorder and some of his actions, especially his knack for harming and almost killing cats, can be seen as horrific to many.
- Unadoptable Orphan: Junior starts off as decidedly bratty and obnoxious, being turned away from one family after another after his antics prove less than endearing. He spends some years at an orphanage with nuns who he also proceeds to drive up the wall. It is only when the Healys adopt him and Ben makes an honest effort to reach out to him that he starts to change for the better. Only a smidge, mind you, since bratty antics are what the Problem Child movies are all about.
- Vorpal Pillow: Ben Healy attempts to do this to Junior, but ultimately doesn't go through with it. He is still holding the pillow for a couple of scenes afterwards, though.
- With Friends Like These...: Ben's neighbor Roy, who loves to make fun of him and acts in a rather condescending manner. Ben does get a measure of payback at the end by stealing his van (and his Super Dad cap) to go rescue Junior, though.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Averted. It's never explicitly said where Cold River is located and several Texas plates are visible (because the movie was shot there), but when Junior opens Big Ben's wallet he sees an Illinois driver's license, and since Big Ben is running for a local office, Illinois would have to be his state of residency.
- You Can Keep Her!: When the Bow Tie Killer kidnaps Flo and Junior, Ben is initially overjoyed that they are gone. However after seeing a drawing Junior made of him, he realizes Junior loves him and goes out to rescue him. Flo's not so lucky, though.
