Trailer:
Cast:
* John Ritter - Ben Hanscom in "IT" - Ben Healy aka Little Ben
* Michael Oliver - Junior
* Amy Yasbeck - Peggy Brandt in "The Mask", Marian in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" - Flo Healy
* Gilbert Gottfried - Iago in "Aladdin" - Mr. Peabody
* Michael Richards - Cosmo Kramer in "Seinfield" - Martin Beck aka Bowtie Killer
Plotline:
A child named Junior is problematic and hard to place with a "forever home". One couple find out they can't have children biologically so what do they do? Try adopting this child and have to learn how to deal with this wild child through different situations. Can they survive the problem child?
Relationships:
* Big Ben and Little Ben
The man who adopts Junior is named Benjamin Healy. His father is called "Big Ben" (Benjamin Healy) and owns a sports equipment store. The local baseball diamond has a "Big Ben" connotation also. So anyways, Big Ben and his son "Little Ben" have issues because Big Ben wanted his son to be a bit more competitive/back-stabbing. His son is "too nice" he says. Little Ben is trying to figure out how to please his father before they adopt but the adoption doesn't help the relationship any. In fact (as you can see in the above trailer), Big Ben calls Junior a devil child and Junior doesn't approve of that, throwing the cat at 'grandpa'. All through the movie, Big Ben keeps trying to convince Little Ben to return Junior though Little Ben says no. Little Ben does end up showing he has guts to stand up to his father, *spoilers* ruining 'grandpa's' campaign at the end. That doesn't help with the relation between Big Ben and Little Ben, though.
*Ben Healy and Flo
Little Ben's wife is Flo (Florence). She is the uptight preppy woman that I dislike. All she can think about is showing up to social gatherings, looking perfect and proper, having expensive stuff, and showing off her things. "I don't wear secondhand clothes so I won't have a secondhand kid," she even says. Ben convinces her otherwise because that way they can have a kid and the child can be the gateway to more social gatherings and Flo can have nice clothes to appear at the gatherings. She agrees, loving the idea that she can get new expensive clothes. [Like I said, I disliked her.]
When the going gets tough, Flo says that they should return the kid because she'd rather have no kids than have Junior. When Ben hears that Junior had been returned to the adoption agency 30 times previously, however, he goes into a noble speech about the fact that they are going to do the right thing by the kid and keep him. Flo is not happy about that. Their marriage turns into a debate about whether they should keep the kid or not. She's for getting rid of and he is for keeping.
*Ben Healy and Junior
Finally being able to become a father through adoption, Ben Healy tries his darndest to take care of his kid. Though he tries to help the kid, everything keeps messing up: He takes him camping with the neighbors (problems ensue); he puts him on his baseball team (problems ensue); he and Flo get Junior invited to a birthday party for another neighbor's kid (problems ensue).
Even though all these problems arise due to Junior's antisocial shinanigans, Ben keeps trying to be the caring father to the boy. He says that he will do the right thing for the kid, especially after he heard about Junior being returned 30 times to the adoption agency. It is not an easy path, mind you, but he tries his hardest.
At one point, *spoilers* Junior and Flo are kidnapped. Ben at first celebrates because he doesn't have to deal with them anymore but then realizes that Junior actually liked him. So he goes to fight for his son which finally earns him respect from Junior enough to be called "Dad".
Music:
I liked the use of the music in this movie. It synced with the movie well. They used "Bad to the Bone" occasionally when Junior was scheming something. One scene is the neighbor's daughter's birthday party. The girl was a little b***h to Junior because he wasn't a "real kid" since he was an adopted kid. She actually said something previously about the fact that they didn't have a kid, then they had a 7 year old kid, and that was gross. Her mother threatened to cancel her party (clown, ice cream, etc.) if she didn't behave. It was a costume party so what does Junior wear? A devil's outfit. Way to go. Anyways, the girl steps on his tail and says he can't go see the magic show because it is her party. Junior decides to show her a lesson for being so rude:
"Its My Party (I'll Cry If I Want To)" by Lesley Gore
Perfect music for this scene!
Violence:
Okay, so aside the fact that Junior caused a nun to break her arm, made another nun fall down, made his new grandfather and cat to fall down the stairs, made his dad beat up the neighbor in the woods [Dad thought that neighbor Roy (in bear costume) was the bear], setting the clown decorations in his room on fire, ruining the neighbor girl's birthday party, and a few other incidences, this is a fairly clean movie. Aside Junior's shinanigans, there are two mentionable things that I can think of - a bad dude whom they called the Bowtie Killer {the inspiration for Junior to wear a bowtie} caused the prison warden to fall off a second story walkway, probably killed a psychiatrist in the prison as he escaped, stole two cars, kidnapped Flo and Junior, stuffed Flo into a suitcase in the trunk, punched a clown, and shot Ben. Bad guys do bad things... But still that was the extent of the non-Junior-shinanigans in this movie. Do I approve of them? No, especially Flo being stuffed into a suitcase though she kinda deserved to be brought down a notched [in my opinion].
Punching a clown:
Criteria:
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.
I don't know what else to say above in the review so here's my rating: 5/5. I very much enjoyed this movie. I must say that the 90's movies seem to be better than today's movies and this movie supports that statement. This movie had wonderful music, had GREAT characters, had a good storyline, wasn't filled with sex/nudity and drugs/alcohol. The violence of Junior's actions and the Bowtie Killer's actions make this movie a borderline 4.5-5 but I think it was mild enough to keep the rating at a 5. For those that are sensitive regarding violence, you might want to take this as a 4.5 rating just in case.
I think I might try to get a hard copy of this movie. I think it should definitely hold a spot on my shelf. :-D
Bonus "Deleted Scenes":
This explains the broken front door and why Mr. Healy (Little Ben) squealed through the neighbor's garden. Nice.
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