Problem Child (1990) on Netflix
Ben Healy longs for a son, but his wife Flo cannot conceive. An adoption agent offers them Junior, a seven-year-old who leaves destruction wherever he goes.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb5.5/1035,938 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes0%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ben Healy works for his father, Big Ben, a dealer in sporting goods who is running for mayor and considers his son too kind to be his heir. Ben wants a child, but his wife Flo cannot conceive and cares more about the appearance of being a mother than the responsibilities. Ben approaches Igor Peabody, an adoption agent, who presents him and Flo with Junior, a seven-year-old whom Peabody wants out of the orphanage. Junior is mean-spirited and incorrigible, leaving destruction behind him, and he exchanges letters with Martin Beck, a killer nicknamed the Bow Tie Killer, who takes the boy's signature, J.R., for that of a grown criminal. Ben takes Junior home.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Problem Child (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The screenplay was inspired by a real 1988 Los Angeles Times article about a couple who sued a county social services agency after adopting a boy without being told he had a violent history and had already been returned by previous adoptive families multiple times.
- The film's first test screening was a disaster, with 70 percent of the audience walking out and a score of just 30, forcing the studio to order two weeks of reshoots including a new ending.
- Christopher Lloyd turned down the villain role of serial killer Martin Beck because of his Back to the Future Part III commitments, and it went to Michael Richards instead, the second time in a row Richards had landed a role Lloyd had rejected, after UHF the year before.
- A poster showing the family cat Fuzzball inside a tumble dryer, implying Junior put him there, sparked protests from the animal-rights group In Defense of Animals, and some cinemas took the poster down.
- Gilbert Gottfried was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his role, but lost to Donald Trump, who was nominated for his own performance in Ghosts Can't Do It.
- Dennis Dugan revealed in 2015 that he was hired to direct the film, his first feature after television episodes of Moonlighting, Wiseguy and Hunter, after jumping on a coffee table in a meeting with Universal executives.
- A then-unknown child actor named Macaulay Culkin reportedly auditioned for the title role of Junior, but the part was ultimately given to Michael Oliver.
