Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007280334
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`PROBLEM CHILD' IS AS UNPLEASANT AS TITLE CHARACTER

Directed by Dennis Dugan from a screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, it's probably more irresponsible in its approach to violence than any of the gun movies out this summer.

The prospect of a 7-year-old baseball player bashing the heads of opposing players with an aluminum bat doesn't strike me as funny. Nor do scenes of the same urchin stealing cars, committing arson, inflicting pain on animals or taking as his role model a serial killer. The movie should come with a warning to young audience members not to try any of this stuff at home.

Junior, played by Michael Oliver, is the hellion of the movie's title. He's the terror of the local orphanage where he and the nuns take turns tormenting each other.

John Ritter and Amy Yasbeck play an infertile couple who adopt Junior to enhance their social life because everybody who is anybody has children. She's a selfish clod. He's merely a well-meaning nitwit who wants to compensate for the horrible relationship he has with his father by becoming an idyllic pop to Junior. Jack Warden plays Ritter's despicable, politically ambitious father who is sandbagged by a scene straight out of "A Face in the Crowd."

The movie is mean-spirited most of the time but wimps out in the end after it has delivered violent gag after violent gag and thrown in some insensitive references to adopted children as well. By then, it's obvious how counterfeit these calculatedly redeeming sentiments are.

`Problem Child' A Universal picture at Tanglewood Mall Cinema. 85 minutes. Rated PG for language and violence.