‘Problem Child 2’ (PG-13)

Junior Healy (Michael Oliver), problem child and the movies' best argument for infanticide, is back and no one is more surprised than I am. This is one brat, and one bratty movie, that's nearly impossible to tolerate, much less like.

Not since Damien has there been a more evil child. The family situation for the Healys has changed from the first film. Having separated from his wife, Papa Healy (John Ritter) moves with his bad seed to a new neighborhood where divorced women abound and single men are scarce. Immediately, he becomes the target for overwhelming female attention, in particular from one determined lady (played by Lorraine Newman) who hates little Junior with a passion. Despite this and the senior Healy's impossible love for the lovely nurse (Amy Yasbeck) at Junior's school, the two become engaged, presenting Junior with the mission of destroying their relationship. Either that or he gets shipped off to boarding school in Bombay.

As impossible as it may seem, "Problem Child 2" is even coarser in its humor than the first film. Most of the jokes, such as they are, feature little Junior doing something that little boys aren't supposed to do, like flipping the bird or using profane language. He also destroys a great deal of property and, at one point, prompts a plague of roaches. That's the movie's level. It seems to think that an orgy of projectile vomiting is funny.

The new wrinkle here is a second problem child, a little girl Junior's age who is the daughter of the school nurse. (That's why she can't return Papa Healy's affections.) This can hardly be considered a bonus; it's obnoxiousness times two. As for the young actress who plays this problem child buddy, I think it's best that we keep her name out of this. She is, after all, underage.