Problem Child 3: Junior in Love
| Problem Child 3: Junior in Love | |
|---|---|
 Video cover |
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| Written by | Michael Hitchcock |
| Directed by | Greg Beeman |
| Starring | William Katt Justin Chapman Sherman Howard Carolyn Lowery Blake McIver Ewing Brock Pierce Jake Richardson with Gilbert Gottfried as 'Dr. Peabody' and Jack Warden as 'Big Ben' |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Anthony Santa Croce Scott Alexander Larry Karaszewski Brian Levant Robert Simonds |
| Cinematography | Peter Smokler |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Distributor | NBC |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Problem Child 2 (1991) |
Problem Child 3: Junior in Love is a 1995 American made-for-TV threequel to Problem Child, and is the third and final entry in the Problem Child trilogy. In this sequel, Junior is a preteen and is in love with a girl named Tiffany. However, she does not notice him. Things take a murderous turn when he finds out there are three other boys interested in her as well. Mr. Peabody has switched jobs again; he is now Junior's dentist. He takes advantage of this by trying to give him braces.
This film ignores the events of Problem Child 2 since Ben's love interest, Annie, and her daughter, Trixie, are absent in this film, as is LaWanda Dumore. Different actors were hired to play both Junior and Ben possibly due to the fact the actor portraying Junior in the first two films, Michael Oliver, was involved in a legal dispute with the film company which wanted to claim back money earned from the first film as he had haggled and thus was said to have got the money unfairly. This is not confirmed, however.
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[edit] Plot
Junior Healy (Justin Chapman) tells a story from multiple drawings in a coloring book, and it switches to his classroom where he is told by Miss Hicks (Marianne Muellerleile) that he got an F for not finishing his science project, and he mentions that "it's all about sound waves", and the bell rings, causing a set of traps to trigger, and Miss Hicks to fall out a window. The audience is told that one of his classmates Murph (Eric Edwards) told on him, and the principal called his dad, Ben (William Katt), prompting him to take Junior to get help. He and Ben meet Sarah (Carolyn Lowery), a therapist who tests Junior, and decides that he needs activities to do. Junior takes this harshly, and does not approve of these options.
He is taken to a dance school, run by a tyrannical débutante, Lila Duvane (Ellen Albertini Dow), and dislikes it at first, then he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Ogletree), but Murph - who had asked him to dance with his sister, Bertha (Edwards) - informs him that three boys, Duke (Brock Pierce), flamboyant actor Corky (Blake McIver Ewing), and bad boy Blade (Jake Richardson) have already taken her. Junior tries to proclaim his love to Tiffany, but fails miserably. He is given a teacher, Mr. Burtis (Bruce Morrow), which he traps him similar to Miss Hicks at the beginning. He bites an apple, and feels pain. He and Ben go to a dental clinic where it is discovered by the infamous Mr. Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) that he needs braces. Ben asks his father, Big Ben Healy (Jack Warden), for a $5,000 loan which leads to disappointing results.
After meeting the trio and Tiffany, he decides to start with scouting under Scoutmaster Phlim (Sherman Howard) who is Duke's father. Afterwards he decides to enter hockey which Blade is in. He gets beaten by Blade's team (a scene shows his gear flying up into the air after a critical hit, an obvious parody of the first Problem Child). After his rough encounters, he decides to "get even" and take part in a Peter Pan play, where he is stuck portraying a weed. Ben meets Sarah at a Big Ben's, and it is discovered that she was with Scoutmaster Phlim, and subsequently broken up with him.
During the hockey tournament, Junior beats everyone of the opposing team players, and strikes Blade with a hockey puck. After this, he is banned for life, and then he traps Corky by distracting the janitor (Rance Howard), and pulling the rope to the suspension harness, and crashing it down, severely injuring Corky and Lila Duvane.
After these two schemes, Junior and Ben are challenged to an obstacle course in which consists of a sack race, a tire run, a monkey bar cross, a rope climb, and a canoe race. Junior sabotages every obstacle on their side, and they win. However, Tiffany winds up being not what Junior expected; his "dream girl" is really a spoiled brat. Junior pranks her by tying the ribbon on her dress to a statue, and as she walks forward, it rips off, making it useless. Half-naked, embarrassed, and laughed at, Tiffany runs out crying, and Junior meets a nicer girl who is also wearing braces. Like the beginning, Junior depicts everyone in a coloring book, and signs off by saying "so long suckers!", as the words "The End" pop up in the book.
[edit] Cast
- William Katt as Ben Healy
- Justin Chapman as Junior Healy
- Sherman Howard as Scoutmaster Phlim
- Carolyn Lowery as Sarah Gray
- Jennifer Ogletree as Tiffany
- Blake McIver Ewing as Corky McCullen
- Brock Pierce as Duke
- Jake Richardson as Blade
- Gilbert Gottfried as Igor Peabody
- Jack Warden as Big Ben Healy
- Ellen Albertini Dow as Lila Duvane
- Marianne Muellerleile as Miss Hicks
- Bruce Morrow as Mr. Burtis
- Jacqueline Obradors as Conchita
- Kelli Thacker as Nurse Kiki
- Rance Howard as Janitor
[edit] Legal dispute
Michael Oliver, the original actor who played Junior Healy, was involved in a legal dispute which prevented him from being in the third installment. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ "'Problem Child' Part III -- The Courtroom : Movies: Universal takes film's child star to court in a bitter contract dispute over his salary for the sequel. nor John Ritter didn't returned for his role as Ben Healy.". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1992-04-23/entertainment/ca-1583_1_problem-child. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
[edit] External links
- Problem Child 3: Junior in Love at the Internet Movie Database
- Problem Child 3: Junior in Love at AllRovi
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