mitsubishizero This's one of the funniest movies I've seen! The main character's a trip in what he says and does. John Ritter is perfect as his exasperated father. Michael Oliver plays the orphan from hell named Junior who has been rejected more than I can count and for good reason: He's a nightmare to deal with. The jokes and gags are great! It's all worth it to see people who cross get their comeuppance as well as have Junior turn a new leaf at the end of the movie.

retroguy02 Even though I also spent the better part of my childhood in the 90s (having been born in 1993), somehow I missed the re-runs of this one (or its sequel) on TV - not like I missed out on anything because of it (on the contrary, in fact, having seen it now), but it also means that I'm not familiar with the "I know it's bad but it holds a special memory for me" feelings that many others have for this movie. I just found it to be a plain bad, annoying film about a very, very annoying character. Judging from its all-too-obvious title and production (it looks like a low-budget late 80s/early 90s family comedy, which is what it basically is), I was expecting a cheap knockoff of Home Alone - and it's not like I liked that series either, maybe because I don't find anything cute about hell-raising little spawns of Satan, they're little devils who just tick me off and need to be disciplined.The problem is that – unlike, say, Matilda or even Kevin from Home Alone – this kid's just not likable or even particularly cute. Instead, he comes off as the movie's other characters describe him – a vile little spawn of Satan (the ginger hair, dead eyes, freckles and bad teeth only add to it) who delights in inflicting misery on others until way too late in the movie - it almost feels like the filmmakers decided that they needed to find a way to make the audience not woo for the little devil's death.The film unsuccessfully tries to walk a fine line between a violent naughty-child family comedy (a la Home Alone) or a semi-serious commentary on sensitive issues like abandoned children, adoption and parenthood. Instead, it awkwardly dips in and out of both territories. Adding to the stilted tone is the fact that in some parts it's actually quite dark if one bothers to give a below-surface thought to it – there's one particular scene where the defeated, blanked-out dad contemplates killing his adopted little devil while his wife fornicates with an escaped serial killer in the next room - in a PG-rated family comedy!Virtually every character in the film is paper-thin, overacted to the point of bad unintentional comedy and just plain disengaging or annoying. And my apologies to--let's see--Michael Oliver, who I'm assuming has now vanished in the dustbin of Hollywood's child actor has-beens (like most stars of such movies do), but here he's probably the most annoying kid I've probably seen in any movie with a child protagonist.Unless you've had a childhood with crappy basic cable channels that used to rerun movies like this one back in the 90s - even I caught this movie as a rerun on my crappy local cable (as they say, old habits die hard) - and as a result you have some kind of perverse sentimental value for it, there's no reason anyone should watch this, especially considering that that today (the Modern Golden Age of TV) there are so many great shows on TV to kill your time with.

TheLittleSongbird I was expecting to really hate this film, but after seeing it, it wasn't that bad. Yes it was mediocre and crude at times, but absolutely awful, no. There are much worse movies out there, and I will probably be here all night listing them and why they are so bad. I'll drop a few hints, Friedberg-Seltzer movies, Home Alone 4, Cat in the Hat, NeverEnding Story 3 and Superbabies:Baby Geniuses 2 ring a bell? Anyway, the script does have its weak spots, the ending could have been better, Michael Oliver as the truly dysfunctional kid is thoroughly obnoxious at times and the plot is a touch simplistic. That said, it has its good moments, the gags are crude but some of them are amusing, John Ritter is charming in the title role and Gilbert Gottfried is hilarious. The soundtrack ain't half bad either, Amy Yasbeck is effective at playing her character like a total snob,Jack Warden is great and the film is nice to look at. Overall, could have been better but it could have been a hell of a lot worse as well. 6/10 Bethany Cox

noimosyni I don't really understand why this movie only got a 4 something review, or was it three? I'm not really sure, but really this movie? Gosh, I remember this when I was small. Every time it would be previewed in the TV, I would sit down and wait for a laugh fest. I remember laughs, wheezes and me holding my stomach while watching this movie. I don't care if it's real or not but then again, exaggerations are okay if they give you a good time. Right? Or am I right?Also, the other thing that I really liked was that this child Jr. was a genius (or not because it's purely fictitious). I love the schemes and the fact that he handled all of it with a maniacal and evil grin was even better. Gosh!I love this kid! And he looks like a little angel with those freckles on his nose! Awwww... Who wouldn't love that kid?