Problem Child 2

Problem Child 2
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Brian Levant
Written by	Scott Alexander Larry Karaszewski
Produced by	Robert Simonds
Starring	John Ritter Michael Oliver Jack Warden Laraine Newman Amy Yasbeck Ivyann Schwan
Cinematography	Peter Smokler
Edited by	Lois Freeman-Fox Robert P. Seppey
Music by	David Kitay
Distributed by	Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment
Release dates	July 3, 1991
Running time	90 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$25,104,700

Problem Child 2 is the 1991 comedy sequel to the 1990 "surprise hit" Problem Child; a continuation of the exploits of an adopted orphan child who deliberately wreaks havoc everywhere he goes.

This second installment in the franchise did not fare as well as its predecessor both with the critics and only performed about half as well at the U.S. box-office.

Plot

The film's storyline picks up where the first film ended. Ben Healy is now the sole parent of Junior. He has decided the best thing for himself and Junior is to make a fresh start by traveling several states away to a town called Mortville. The town's name may or not be a reference to the very weird town with the same name from the John Waters cult film Desperate Living. The name may also be a reference to Morty, the "bow tie killer" from the first film. Junior is happy to be in such a nice house with Ben; however, he sees other women "coming onto" his father as a threat to their time together.

Mortville is a community in which the women greatly outnumber the men; hence, Ben is courted by many single women, and Junior attempts to sabotage their chances with Ben. Much of Mortville is owned by the self-serving LaWanda Dumore, who sees Ben applying for a loan at her bank, and makes plans to ensnare him, herself having to compete for men in the community. In a further sense of irony, Junior attends the local elementary school, where the antagonistic Mr. Peabody is now employed as the school's principal. Although Junior is eight years of age, Peabody advances him to sixth grade, in order to have Junior graduate from elementary school at the end of the year, thus ensuring he will leave Peabody's presence. When Junior attends his sixth-grade class, he finds everyone—including the teacher—to be intimidated by a hulking and intellectually lazy bully, to which Junior is the only one to point out his stupidity, earning him a new enemy.

Junior also gets a new rival, a girl, named Trixie, who shares his fondness for trouble. When the bully tries to harm Junior by pushing a satellite dish off the school roof, it hits Ben instead, who finds himself in the care of a caring, attractive school nurse, named Annie (Amy Yasbeck in a different role from the first movie), who is later revealed to be a single mother with her hands full because of Trixie's troublemaking. When Ben goes on his first date he leaves junior in the care of Rhoda, the babysitter, she seems like an angel but afterwards when Ben has left it is revealed she invited her boyfriend over. Junior is unhappy at this so he plants a secret camera in the master bedroom where they are kissing and hugging in their underwear, he broadcasts this on the side of his house, which attracts a large number of rowdy men cheering them on.

"Big" Ben Healy has located Ben in Mortville, and abruptly moves in with him, admitting his sporting goods store has gone bankrupt, and he is broke. LaWanda also moves in, renovating Ben's house, and trying to pass herself off as a caring bride-to-be. She re-decorates Junior's bedroom in a clown motif, which he despises. Ben believes he should re-marry to have a woman in the home, and Ben's father wants to marry into LaWanda's money. Junior sees LaWanda for whom she really is, but is not believed by Ben, due to his numerous misbehaviors, such as dumping cockroaches in the salad, switching La Wanda's blood sample with that of a rabid dog, and swaps clipboards at the hospital making La Wanda get her nose elongated, instead of getting "treated for rabies". Eventually, Junior and Trixie realize it would be best if their parents married each other, so the two kids agree to work together to ensure Ben does not marry LaWanda.

Cast

Actor	Role
John Ritter	Ben Healy
Michael Oliver	Junior Healy
Jack Warden	Big Ben Healy
Laraine Newman	Lawanda Dumore
Amy Yasbeck	Annie Young
Ivyann Schwan	Trixie Young
Gilbert Gottfried	Principal Igor Peabody
Paul Willson	Smith
Bob Smith	Father Flanagan

Special DVD release

Problem Child and Problem Child 2 were released together on DVD in the U.S. on March 2, 2004, nearly six months after the death of John Ritter, as a package entitled Problem Child Tantrum Pack.

The DVD was released as a single sided disc with both movies on a main menu. On the DVD, the submenus for each of the films has that film's original theatrical trailer. There are no bonus features, not even the deleted scenes that are shown in TV airings. Furthermore, both movies are featured in a cropped fullscreen format.

The package does not contain the third film, the made-for-TV Problem Child 3: Junior in Love (1995). The R2 DVD Tantrum Pack contains all three films, which were released in the UK shortly after the passing of John Ritter.

Trivia

• In the first classroom scene, Mr. Thorn is writing rules on the blackboard, and at the bottom it says, "No Slackers." Mr. Thorn is played by James Tolkan, who played Mr. Strickland in the "Back to the Future" series, and was fond of calling both Marty and other young men "slackers".
• Amy Yasbeck, who played the hot-tempered Flo Healy in the first movie, appears here as the docile Annie Young. In 1999, Amy Yasbeck married John Ritter in real-life.
• The television version which notably aired on USA Network and, most recently, TBS, features scenes not in theatrical/home video release.
• In the scene with the neighbor Aron Burger mocking Junior at the barbecue prompting him to tamper with the barbecue's fuel supply, causing an explosion, Junior clenches his fists and hot air gathers around him. Clearly this is a take on the 1984 movie Firestarter starring Drew Barrymore.

Deleted Scenes

These scenes were absent from the theatrical and home video versions of the film, but were present in TV airings on USA Network.

• Junior's first face-to-face encounter with Trixie (in the school hallways), in which she puts a sign on his back.
• Nurse Young treating a scrape on Junior's arm.
• Additional Ben/Nurse Young dialogue when their kids go missing.
• Additional footage of LaWanda insulting Junior.

External links

• Problem Child 2 at IMDb
• Problem Child 2 at AllMovie