PROBLEM CHILD BOW TIE MOVIE
Another scene early in the movie has Ben’s dad disinheriting Ben for being too loyal and too good a son instead of clawing his way to the top. For instance, selfish Flo reasons if they had a child, they would be included in the prestigious social activities of their ritzy neighborhood. Both are happy to be rid of Flo.Īs one might infer, positive family values are undermined or confused in numerous subtle and deceiving ways. With Ben proving that he loves Junior, Junior is reformed and happy to be with Ben. After a wild escapade and auto chase, Ben rescues Junior, the killer is recaptured and nagging Flo ends up in a suitcase on the back of a pig truck headed to who knows where. At first ecstatic to be rid of them both, Ben is later moved to go after Junior when he comes across a warm and loving depiction of himself that Junior has drawn. However, the psycho killer seduces Flo, then kidnaps both her and Junior. Ben and Flo think “Great! We’ll pass the kid off on his uncle.” Junior pretends the escapee is his uncle.
At this point, the “Bow Tie” killer arrives, who escaped from prison earlier in the film and has been looking for his pen pal. The orphanage, however, is unwilling to take Junior back, having had him returned 37 times previously. Looking on with horror, Ben finally mutters, “We’ve adopted Satan.” In spite of all the havoc that Junior wreaks, Ben tries very hard to love an unloved boy whom nobody wants. All of these incidences are portrayed as funny and acceptable. He sets his room on fire, urinates on children, switches candles for firecrackers on a birthday cake, and slams a bat into a boy’s groin during a Little League game. The rest of the movie is a hodgepodge of mischievous scenes in which Junior creates mayhem for his adoptive parents.
Ben says, “We must have gotten the pick of the litter. When they pick up Junior, the whole orphanage comes out to cheer him off, happy to be rid of this wild, little destructive monster who ties up nuns and throws food on them. Little do they know why the orphanage is so willing to part with him (he terrorizes the nuns there), or that the reason he wears a bow tie is to look like his pen pal in the state penitentiary, the “Bow Tie” killer. They look at a picture of him, exclaim “Oh, what a darling bow tie!” and decide to adopt. Going to an adoption agency, Ben and Flo are told they might have to wait seven years for a child, unless they would be willing to consider a certain seven-year-old named Junior. Depicting the down side of adoption, PROBLEM CHILD is a comedy in which an unsuspecting suburban couple adopt a seemingly adorable child that they think will enhance their lives.