Review of:Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)
Director:Sam Weisman
Rating:PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, language and drug references
Starring:Alyssa Milano, Jon Lovitz, Mary McCormack, Rachel Dratch, Edie McClurg
There was a time that I believed that David Spade was finished. How could he survive without the out of this world comedy of Chris Farley by his side? Together they were heading to a tag team height in comedy that has been rarely achieved, possibly on the bottom rungs of Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello.
David Spade was relegated to the part of straight man in most of those films, usually making sarcastic jokes at the expense of Farley. But since the death of Farley things have changed. He has taken the sarcasm of the earlier films and mixed it with a bit of substance. The film Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is one of those endeavors.
Dickie Roberts (David Spade) has had it all. Bright lights, money, and the admiration of a nation. The only problem is that it came when he was little more than a young man. The light that shined on his career has faded, and now at the age of thirty-five his greatest wish is to have it all back.
His hopes to achieve his past success hinge on being cast in an upcoming film by Rob Reiner (Meathead from Archie Bunker). On this one job he hangs everything, and when he is told that he has everything that they have been looking for except a normal childhood, he decides to go out and buy the experience.
That sets the stage for a film that might not seem to have much going for it at first, but over a bit of time will win you over.
To start off the casting in the film is terrific. We have an opportunity to see most of the favorite child actors from many eras making cameos in this film. The most memorable would have to be Webster.
Now imagine that you haven’t had the foundations of family set down for you at an early age. That everything you’ve done has been built in a fairy tale world of live audiences, and fans. The pure immediate response from something such as this must be amazing, and Spade portrays his character as such. His character is someone who is basically suffering from withdrawal, and trying to find the way back to it.
The hiring of the foster family is a point of contention in the film. Who would actually do such a thing in real life? As I thought about that I remembered Survivor or Big Brother, so on and so on. The plot seemed to be a little more palatable after that and it is necessary to the development of the story.
Maybe the bit of heart that we sense in this film is due to the fact that the director has had a lot of experience since he is credited with being Director of Seventh Heaven: Beginnings, and it answers the question as to why Melissa Milano is in the film since he directed her in Who’s The Boss also.
Spade mixes with his sarcasm an almost child like state of mind to many of his jokes, and it happens to work well in the film. The movie builds to a pretty predictable ending, but all in all a good time.
