This movie was so stupid it was funny (at times) - also noted by another reviewer as is my heading - it is what I thought - the kid reminded me of the TV series "Dennis the Menace" behaving like Bart Simpson. However despite other reviewers liking the kid I found his performance wooden - as if he just walked on stage and said his lines one at a time. Also Jon Ritter seemed miscast. I believe Randy Quaid would have been better but none of those that turned down the roll would have suited."Chevy Chase, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Dan Aykroyd and Rick Moranis were all considered for the role of Little Ben Healy."Most of the rest of the cast did well - especially the other children. I don't see how this movie made money but I can see how kids might like it, yet the positive reviews came from adults.Rather alarming was the concern and outrage for the poster showing a cat in the washing machine (which did not happen in the movie) and there was no outcry about the physical abuse against the woman (Mrs Healy) in the the suitcase.

A baby is left on a woman's doorstep. However it doesn't go well and the baby keeps getting pass along. Junior (Michael Oliver) is a real problem child. Even the nuns can't take him. Ben (John Ritter) and Flo Healy (Amy Yasbeck) are completely 100% infertile. His father Big Ben Healy (Jack Warden) sells the sporting goods store and is leaving him with nothing. He would love to adopt but Florence is selfish who only agrees to adopt so that she can join other parents at parties. Adoption agent Igor Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) cons the Healys into taking Junior. Junior is a pen pal to prison inmate The Bow Tie Killer Martin Beck (Michael Richards). Then Beck escapes from prison and shows up at their door.Junior isn't funny or cute or anything. Ritter is reacting. Yasbeck is annoying. It's not funny at all and it's basically the same joke over and over again anyways. It tries to have heart but it doesn't work. There is nobody to care about. This dark comedy needs a better child actor and a more interesting sense of humor. Him taking a bat to everybody is actually good but it's a rare smirk worthy joke.

The movie's premise of a naughty neglected boy being adopted by a overly kind parent who ends up loving him would make a great movie, if given better writing. I would recommend the "comedy" being mostly removed and it being done as a drama.. maybe a bit of a psychological case study type movie. The premise of a kid who is different finding love and acceptance is a good movie formula(like Martian Child). Even some of the scenes could even work in the drama version.A few that spring to mind are Junior's first night when Ben has a heart to heart with his new son in the kitchen. The scene is actually nice and touching. Ben really comes off well and Junior seems like a decent kid in the scene. The other is when Ben is free of the wife and Junior and is happy till he finds the picture. Another scene I'd keep.Overall, the movie is okay. It is very mean spirited and one has to wonder as Junior sets up his nasty pranks how no one notices him doing the things. The kid is a major brat and could stand a spanking or two. Jon Ritter's character is the only really well done character in the film.The drama version wouldn't have to be that much different plot wise really. Here goes: Drop the opening of him being tossed from home to home. Just give a little exposition in dialog later. Give a bit of neglect and maybe some abuse to add weight to it. Open with the boy (give a name other than Junior (to generic))getting into some trouble and being scolded. Nothing psychotic like the comedy version. Make him an outcast still and the other kids are mean. Kid figures if he isn't liked, he will pick a role model who isn't nice... like a criminal (drop the stupid bow tie though.) Cut to the kindhearted dad and the mom. She can still be a bit of a witch and want the child for the selfless reasons. But the dad wants to be a good father and make a difference in a child's life. Heck we could make him just a single father. Keep the aggressive grandfather role. He can be the same jerk and not care for Junior since he is adopted.Junior acts out to get attention and gets in a fight with another kid who teases him. Dad sits down the son and talks him through his troubles. Kid still does stuff that is wrong but nothing like the awful "pranks" like in the 1990 version. He does it for the real reason a kid like that would. He sees any kind of attention as a good thing.Over the course of movie the boy starts to try and model himself after his new dad as he finally feels more acceptance. But when he tries to do something nice for his dad he ends up doing something really bad (like wrecking the car into a house or something). Fearing he will no longer be loved, he runs away. Dad desperately looks for his son and comes to the boy's aid. Ends with dad and son forming a bond of love and the boy beginning to heal.Cut, print, Oscar...There same basic plot and a lot of elements, but a more realistic approach. Instead of a sadistic child who laughs with glee at things that could have caused someone's death, we get a realistic scared child craving attention.

This kid is rather bad, but in no way do they make him the type that outsmarts adults and can foil experienced thieves at every turn. No, he is not so much a brat, as he is a kid with severe emotional problems. A nice couple looking to adopt get rather suckered into adopting him and while the husband is a bit more willing to give this kid a chance the mother is not. Through in a bizarre Michael Richards character and the always annoying Gilbert Gottfried and you have yourself a rather bad movie with a few laughs in it here and there. I actually prefer the sequel to this film as I like the fact they brought Amy Yasbeck back as a different more likable character as there are one to many characters in this film that are thoroughly unlikable as it is. Even the kid is rather annoying at first in this one, and they kind of chill him out in the sequel too. The plot is simple enough though as the prospective parents go to adopt this kid that they think is great by the way the orphanage is throwing a party as they depart, they soon realize they have themselves a little hellion. Add to that this little hellion getting into contact with a convict of some sort. Not sure about this character, at first I thought it was supposed to be his real father or something. Not all that good, but I will pick this ahead of that Culkin kid any day of the week.