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Problem Child 2

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Problem Child 2 is the 1991 comedy film sequel to Problem Child. Unlike the previous film, this film is rated PG-13. The film stars Michael Oliver, John Ritter, Jack Warden, Amy Yasbeck, and Ivyann Schwan.

Ben Healy and his son, Junior move from Cold River to Mortville to start a new life after Ben's divorce.

Mr. Peabody is the new school principal who screams when Junior walks into his office, and sends him to the sixth grade, calling him a genius. Junior also meets Trixie Young, a girl who's worse than him, and her mother, Annie, the school nurse. Ben meets Annie after suffering a head injury, but when he asks her out for a date, she tells him she can't date anyone because of a problem at home.

Ben wants to remarry and give Junior a new mother, but Junior is against it, and ruins all of his father's dates. Big Ben Healy also moves in, despite hating his son and grandson.

Plot[]

Ben Healy (John Ritter) and his son Junior Healy (Michael Oliver) move from Cold River, Illinois to Mortville, Oregon. Mortville is shown to be a quiet, peaceful community, as well as apparently a way for Ben and Junior to start their lives all over again. Ben is initially sad to be leaving Cold River until Junior reminds him that everyone there has been horrible to him his whole life including his father, former wife and neighbors; Ben tells Junior he is right. They then leave while knocking over the “Now Leaving Cold River” sign, then a montage is shown of them traveling cross-country.

When they arrive at their new house, dozens of women line up in their front yard, wasting no time in wooing Ben. Apparently Mortville is also known as "the divorcee capital of the world", overwhelmingly full of women with few men, and in its center is found a sphere-shaped rock-made monument called The Rock of Love. Aron Burger (Alan Blumenfeld) finally glad to have a man friend in the neighborhood, modestly invites them to his house for a barbecue. While there, Junior is introduced to Aron's twin daughters Dolly and Madison (Krystle and Tiffany Mataras). They demand him to each give them $10.00. He refuses and wants to go home. Aron then taunts him about how their hospitality is not good enough for him. In retaliation, Junior sets the gas pumps on Aron's grill up to high and when he goes over to light it, it ferociously explodes, causing him to land in a kiddie pool in the next yard, charring his eyebrows in the process.

The next day, Junior is reluctant to start his first day of school at Mortville Elementary. He is met by Trixie Young (Ivyann Schwan), who has known about him since the beginning of the movie (as he shot her balloon with a slingshot on the way to their new house). Igor Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) is now the school's principal and had also moved from Cold River to Mortville. But it is cut short when Junior enters his office, whereupon Peabody screams at the top of his lungs. Mortified by his return, Peabody decides to promote him from the 3rd to 6th grade so he will be gone in one year upon completing elementary school. When he enters his new classroom, he is met by the flustered teacher Mr. Thorn (James Tolkan) who is upset, since he wonders how many kids he has to teach as many of them were obviously held back constantly. Murph (Eric Edwards), the most held back student (as he has actually been in the 6th grade since 1970) and also the class bully, lazily sits by as everyone stares in fear at his inability to answer an easy math question, 3+2, to which Junior chimes in how easy that is, "5". Mr. Thorn is pleased with Junior's confidence, but Murph plans to pulverize Junior. Junior outsmarts Murph by taping him onto the chalkboard, causing all the kids to run out of the school in fear.

Meanwhile, Ben is opening an account at the local bank and wishes to be self-employed. LaWanda Dumore (Laraine Newman), the rude, self-centered and wealthiest woman in Mortville who, along with her meek assistant Smith (Paul Willson), notices Ben inside her bank from her upstairs office and becomes infatuated with him. She demands Smith to find out everything about him, since she intends to make him her seventh husband. Later that afternoon, he picks up Junior from school, not knowing he was the only one there today, but he gets smashed over the head and knocked unconscious by a decorative satellite dish on the school's rooftop by Murph, still covered in pieces of tape residue. After regaining consciousness in the clinic, he notices the pretty school nurse Annie Young (Amy Yasbeck). Junior, disgusted, leaves the clinic and plans to draw all over the picture of Annie on the wall with a black marker. Trixie, however, shows up and verbally warns him not to do it, but he does it anyway and she flips him to the floor and draws a mustache on his upper lip.

Meanwhile, LaWanda looks over Ben's records in her office, but has serious doubts when she sees Junior's, and notices news headlines indicating all the trouble he caused. She decides to handle him in her own way so she can move over to Ben. Later that night, Junior is upset when he is forced to accept Rhoda (Kristen Simonds), a lazy, irresponsible babysitter, while Ben goes on a date with Debbie Claukinski (Charlene Tilton), who he and Junior met the day they moved in. After being insulted by Rhoda, Junior decides to call up Debbie's former husband Voytek (Zach Grenier), an uncouth slob who lives in a messy apartment, eats dog food, and is insanely jealous. He tells Junior that Debbie left him ruined emotionally and financially after their divorce, and is shocked to learn that she's out on a date with another man. Voytek confronts Ben and Debbie at The St. Pierre Club where they are enjoying themselves. He then smashes a lead pipe on Ben's head, and after a struggle, Ben thrusts the pipe into Voytek's abdomen, hurting his kidney. Debbie calls Ben a bully and punches him out. Back at the house, Rhoda's boyfriend shows up on his motorcycle, and the two go upstairs to the master bedroom to have sex. Junior sees the box that contains video equipment and smiles gleefully. As a weary and despondent Ben drives home, along with Debbie and Voytek in the passenger seat ferociously making out, he notices a line of cars and people sitting outside his house, cheering wildly. He looks and sees Rhoda and her boyfriend having sex via a projection screen embellishing the entire house's exterior.

Ben's father Big Ben Healy (Jack Warden) unexpectedly shows up, along with his pet dog Nippy. He says he is on vacation and wants to spend it with Ben, but he finds out that his father's so-called vacation is permanent since he has no money and his creditors are after him, which surprises Ben as he saw his dad on nonstop infomercials selling Big Ben franchises, which Big Ben admits flopped as he only got one franchisee (Voytek in a cameo). Ben decides to take his father in, since he owes him for a good home life and bribing the dean at his college to keep him in school. Big Ben ends up staying in Junior's room, much to his disgust.

The next day at school, Junior tails Trixie all over the school, wondering what she is up to. Armed with a slingshot, he turns around and she sprays him with the fire hose. The impact blasts him out the front doors. Shortly after, Ben shows up at the clinic where Junior is, draped with a towel. He nervously asks Annie if she would like to have dinner with him, but she refuses, saying that she cannot go out with anyone. Before he can figure out why, Junior drags him out of the clinic. Later that day, after Junior throws rocks into a pond for a bit, he notices Dolly and Madison selling lemonade for $2.00, but he only has a quarter. The girls decide to let him refill the pitcher, as a way for him to receive a free glass. He then goes over to a secluded place near his house and urinates into it. When he brings it back, they find out that he only filled it halfway and do not give him his free glass, not knowing he urinated in it. When Aron comes over to the stand after out working on their car (and still has no eyebrows after the grill incident), the girls fill him a glass and he drinks it. He declares it as tangy, but does not seem to mind.

That night, Junior tries to impress Ben by making dinner, but he tells him he has a date with Emily (Martha Quinn) another person they met the day they moved in. While Ben gets ready, Junior gets even by rigging their doorbell to electrocute her on their doorstep. When Ben opens the door, he is shocked to see Emily with shocked hairdo, blanched skin, and burnt teeth. Emily tells Ben she has the flu, and after Ben closes the door, Emily falls face first onto the ground. Big Ben thinks "the little monster" has been sabotaging his son's love life, and pressures Ben to punish Junior, to which Ben does. However, Ben later thinks that he has been too strong with Junior, and decides to spend more time with him, hopefully thinking he will be more well-behaved. The next day at school, Junior chases Trixie into the girl's bathroom. When he confronts her in a stall, she gets out an M-80, lights it up, and gives it to Junior who throws it into the toilet and flushes it. As they run out of the restroom, screaming, Mr. Thorn, in a hurry to go to the bathroom, bolts into the teacher's bathroom and sits down on a toilet. When the M-80 travels into the one on which he's sitting via the sewage line, it explodes. Luckily, he lands back onto the toilet and breathes a sigh of relief, thinking he is fine.

Later, Big Ben notices Dolly and Madison selling clothes. He finally notices a suit with a "Vote For Big Ben" election button inside it. Then he notices Nippy inside a cage on the table, and the girls then tell him that Junior sold all of his clothes for $10.00. Furious, Big Ben storms into Junior's room and decides to belt him. Junior, however, taunts him with toy nun-chucks. Big Ben charges towards him, but he jumps out of the way and Big Ben falls out the window. Laughing, Junior closes the window, just when Ben comes in and decides to take him out for a day of fun. He asks Junior if he has seen Grandpa (Big Ben) to which Junior replies, "Last time I seen him he was going out". As the car backs out of the driveway, it is seen that Big Ben landed in a tree, he yells to Ben to no avail. As they drive off, LaWanda and her moving crew show up and notice him up in the tree. Smith thinks he is Ben's father, LaWanda tells him to get him down, but he eventually falls to the ground.

At a carnival, Junior is disappointed that he is not tall enough to ride on the Crazy Dance, sort of a Tilt-A-Whirl kind of ride. After being taunted by Murph and Trixie, who managed to put stilts on her shoes to make her look taller, when going on the ride, Junior plans to make them pay. He goes underneath the ride and sets its speed to dangerously fast, causing everyone on board to vomit, and shortly after, the people who are watching outside. When driving home, Ben decides to make a deal with Junior that he will always be there for him, as long as he is being good. They then shake hands on it to seal the deal. When they arrive home, they find that the house has been redecorated. They find out that LaWanda was responsible for it, and has transformed Junior's space adventure-themed room into a circus motif, causing Junior to grouse how he "hates clowns". As she begins to leave, she promises Ben she will make dinner tomorrow night. The next day, Junior hypnotizes Nippy so he can scare LaWanda away, but cannot get him out of the trance. Finally having had it, he goes over to his Roach Motel keeper and notices his pet roaches, triggering another plan. At dinner, everyone notices something weird with their salads. Then the bowl of salad tips over and lands all over the table, causing all the cockroaches to land on LaWanda, Ben, and Big Ben. Fed up, an unwitting Ben indignantly reprimands Junior and coldly tells him that he has broken his dad's trust. Next, LaWanda comes in and verbally warns him not to mess with her anymore and tells him she will marry Ben, and then send him to boarding school in Baghdad. He tries to explain it to Ben the next night at his school's open house, but Ben dismisses it by telling Junior he has scuttled his own reputation.

At the puppet show, Trixie secretly kidnaps the real puppeteers, ties them up, and performs the show in a very vulgar fashion. Thinking Junior was responsible, Ben runs up to the stage, yanks the puppets off Trixie's hands and slams them onto the floor, but is then puzzled when he sees her and asks her who she is, to which an equally confused Trixie vulgarly asks him who he is. Annie runs up to the stage and asks her why she did this; Trixie admits the real puppeteers wouldn't let her be in the puppet show. Trixie is revealed to be Annie's daughter, and she has the same problem with her that Ben has with Junior. Disappointed and humiliated, Annie scoops Trixie up and runs out of the building. As Ben gets to his feet, he notices Junior was actually sitting in the front row the entire time and just enjoying the show; he limps after Annie, telling her they can work it out, but she tells him that Trixie consumes her entire life and she has no room for anything else before running off in the dark.

That night, Big Ben notices a still hypnotized Nippy in a shrub in the backyard. Finally relieved after finding him, he goes over, tips him over, and he falls to the ground; he picks him up and confusedly wonders what happened.

Junior decides to start planning something decent, so he gets Ben to take him to a pizzeria where they end up having dinner with Annie and Trixie. Mr. Peabody, out on a date with his girlfriend, spots Junior and Trixie and starts mouthing off. The kids, who share a hatred for him, throw meatballs at him. Mr. Peabody yells at Ben for defending the kids' actions and throws an egg at him. He responds by starting a food fight; as a result, they all get kicked out and banned from the pizzeria. Junior and Trixie, who realize their parents like each other, exchange apologies and become friends.

Junior, who strongly despises LaWanda, gets even by switching her blood sample with that of a rabid dog. While celebrating her engagement to Ben, she gets cake icing on her face, which bears a striking resemblance to foaming at the mouth (a symptom of rabies). As a result, she is handcuffed by animal control officers and sent to the hospital for observation. With her in the hospital, Junior overhears a patient in the room across from her saying he wants to hold the world record for the world's longest nose. Overhearing this, Junior sabotages the man's plastic surgery by switching the patient files, resulting in LaWanda receiving a gigantic nose — this is Junior attempting to make her so ugly Ben will not marry her. The same night, he escapes together with Trixie, and they both hope that Ben would marry Annie instead of LaWanda. Annie and Ben were looking for their kids, and are glad to see them sleeping together by the rock. Meanwhile, Big Ben is praying that he can be better father and grandfather to his family, but also that somehow LaWanda's money can end his debt collector woes.

The next day, Ben and LaWanda are about to get married. Junior tries to reveal the ugly Lawanda, but is shocked to see that LaWanda was able to make her nose small again after using her funds to undo the mess. However, just when LaWanda is about say "I do", Trixie uses a tractor over which she has carried the Rock of Love. She drops the rock on the altar, and when LaWanda tries to stop it just by vocally ordering it, it crumbles over her.

Ben finally realizes Annie is the one for him and Junior was right about LaWanda after LaWanda shocked and disgusted Ben by openly stating her strong dislike of children. LaWanda sadly says there is no one for her — until Big Ben proposes to her (which Ben had sarcastically suggested, saying “Dad, if you like her so much, you marry her”), and she gladly accepts. Junior and Trixie set explosives onto the wedding cake, which splats on Big Ben and LaWanda just as they kiss. Annie, Ben and their kids finally leave the park, hoping to start a new and happy life.

Ex-Triumph guitarist Rik Emmett's hit Saved By Love plays over the end credits.

Cast[]

TV Version[]

Seven minutes worth of deleted footage were featured in most, if not all, television airings of the film. None of the following scenes have ever been available on DVD. The first TV version aired on November 2, 1992, on NBC-TV. The profanity in it was re-dubbed with milder obscenities and phrases.

  • A scene where Junior first meets Trixie, and she gives him directions to Principal Peabody's office.
  • A scene after school where Junior and Ben are at home, talking about girls, and they have ice packs on their heads. A photo of this scene appeared on the back of the VHS box.
  • A scene after Trixie reaches the girl's bathroom and slams the door in Junior's face. She then teases him with "Hey fool, you're still waiting out there?", to which Junior replies with "Not anymore!", who then barges in.
  • A scene where Big Ben talks on the phone about a commercial and sees his clothes being sold by Dolly & Madison.
  • A scene after Ben first meets LaWanda, in which Junior tells him that he has his doubts about her, but Ben doesn't believe him.
  • A scene at Junior's open house at his school where Ben & Annie have a conversation about dating.
  • A scene where Junior is treated by Annie for a wound on his right elbow, and overhears a conversation with Trixie on the phone. It's here where Junior gets the idea to go to Pizzariffic with Ben. Junior's line "Maybe I'm getting soft, but I've just got the craziest idea." is played here, instead of when Junior and Ben arrive at Pizzariffic. Afterwards, Junior comes home to tell Ben to take him there, and it is there where Ben says he finds out that LaWanda has rabies.
  • A scene after Ben sees that Junior isn't in bed in the early morning hours of the Wedding Guy, and gets a call from Annie who tells him that Trixie is also missing. Ben then trips over Big Ben on the carpeting.
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