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Dickie Roberts - Former Child Star (Widescreen Edition)

Dickie Roberts - Former Child Star (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: For Future Golden Turkey Awards
Review: Dickie Roberts is good fun if you like yours served up with the least amount of comedic talent. This film is just astonishingly bad. I can't believe the positive reviews here... I want to get on the shill list so I can get my payola money too!

Most comedians getting movie gigs risk winding up on a painful slide downward. It's partly because of the limited vision of producers finding suitable story vehicles, and partly because good comedy seems to come from borderline personalities. There's something about movie success that too often gentrifies and dilutes a comic's edge. Likewise, Spade is too comfortable with being mediocre and he lacks the talent to hold up a film by himself.

You get the same comedy value out of staying home and watching a TV sitcom, if not more... 'Makes a re-run of Mr. Ed look like the most inspired side splitting experience on the planet in comparison.

If you haven't guessed, I hate, hate, hated this film!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I COULDN'T BELEIVE THAT DAVID SPADE CAME OUT WITH A FUNNY MOVIE. ITS ABOUT TIME. THATS ONE MOVIE I WILL BUY.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great Premise, Poor Execution
Review: As a child of the 80s, a premise that deals with a former child actor trying to make a comeback in the business after his life has hit the skids seemed great. Add to this the flurry of 70s & 80s nostalgia specials airing daily on VH1 and E! and I began to look forward to seeing "Dickie Roberts."

But, sadly, the movie basically never gets off the ground. The viewer knows right away that this is going to be a movie where the potential was wasted. A brief send-up of "The E! True Hollywood Story," which starts the film, has a couple of funny lines, but not nearly enough to indicate that the rest of the film will keep you interested. Like "Joe Dirt" (and any number of SNL-alum movies), the central character in "Dickie Roberts" is basically a sad-sack who yearns for love from those around him, and most importantly, his own family. However, after years of movies like this, in the year 2004, you're simply just asking yourself, "Again?" as the paperthin plot is revealed.

The movie *almost* redeems itself (kinda) with the "We are the World"-type closing credits video, "Childhood Actors of your TV," performed by the likes of Maureen McCormack, Barry Williams, Corey Feldman & Corey Haim, Screech (sorry, Dustin Diamond), and Haywood Nelson. Haywood Nelson should get his own movie. Who didn't love Doowayne? Anyway, even this great premise falls flat, and instead of a laugh riot (which it very well should have been), it's cringeworthy watching Adam Rich and some of the other childhood actors recite their lines.

But, if you have seen and like this movie, I will recommend you getting the DVD as there are a lot of extra features, from commentaries, to deleted scenes, to an extended-video of "Childhood Actors on your TV" and more. I give the movie 1 star, but the camp and train-wreck that I consider "Childhood Actors on your Television" to be gets 3 stars. So, that's how I came up with my 2 star rating.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: With this plot, it doesn't get any better...
Review: The idea for this movie is so thin it's practically transparent. 'People used to love me when i was famous, i wanna be loved again'. That's about it. However, with the injection of David Spade as the 'loveable' loser ,(well directed by partner and SNL alumni ADAM SANDLER!) , this movie has a sparkle. But, if you go by the first 30 minutes, it's plodding and mediocre at best. However, once the relationships are set up , the movie kicks into gear. Leaving you laughing and actually 'feeling' something for this loser. It has a wonderful background cast that will leave you wondering constantly where you recognize 'him' or 'her' from. This movie is also very short. About 1 hour and 15 minutes + credits. Not a lot of substance, but at least this one delivers in the end. The outtakes are side-splitting, and the bonus song by the 'former' child-stars is as creative as it can get. I loved this movie more than i expected to. Only Tommy Boy was better than this one when it comes to a Spade comedy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I Loved It!!!!
Review: This movie made me laugh, laugh, laugh. If you grew up watching all those old 70's sitcoms, you will love watching them in Dickie Roberts. There are some absolutely hilarious scenes where Dickie is trying to re-live his chidhood. Remember the Slip 'n Slide? Learning to ride your bike? You'll die watching Dickie learn....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: hysterical and oddly touching!
Review: Dickie Roberts is a 1970s child star who is now a has-been. The movie opens with him on "Celebrity Boxing" getting beaten by "Webster's" Emmanuel Lewis. Then he is at poker night with Greg Brady, Screech, Corey Feldman, Leif Garrett and Danny Partridge. Dickie, abandoned by his mother when his career fizzled, craves the love he used to get as a star.

Determined to win a part in a new movie, which director Rob Reiner insists he needs a normal childhood, Roberts sets out to relive childhood with a normal family. Paying $20K to live with them for a month, he is hired by the father George --- who does not bother to tell wife Grace even though she has to 'raise' him. It's essentially a single-parent house, and Dickie breaks down the barriers with nothing more than smarmy charm and becomes friends with the 2 kids and Grace.

The boy Sam looks like a young Corey Feldman, which is weird. The daughter Sally is a really good actress, as is the woman who plays Grace. This is one of Spade's better works, definitely worth seeing more than once.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: IF YOU'RE A SPADE FAN DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE
Review: I like David Spade and I thought JOE DIRT was his best movie. This one is terrible. I don't think I laughed once. Spade plays a washed up actor who decides to pay a family to give him the childhood he never head, so he will have the experience to play a roll in a Rob Reiner film. Spade cracks lame jokes throughout and ends up with the family's mother. (The father was a creep and Spade behaved himself throughout, so no need to shelter the kiddies.)

The only good thing about this film was the appearance of former child stars like Leif Garrett, Danny Boniducci, and Barry Williams. If they had had larger parts the movie might have been funnier. At the end during the credits a large group of child stars assemble to sing a "We Are the World" type song. The only reason I gave this POS a star.

Don't waste your time. See JOE DIRT instead.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Mostly Awful
Review: I am not a huge David Spade fan, but he can make me laugh sometimes, especially in "Tommy Boy." This movie, on the other hand, seldom made me laugh. I just don't think Spade can carry a movie by himself. The jokes were tired and predictable, with something notably funny every 15-20 minutes. I won't even go into how amazingly absurd the premise is, because by now we all know what to expect of movies starring ex SNL cast members. All we can hope for are some good laughs, but this movie did not deliver.

The exception had to be the end credits, which was by far the highlight for me. The song performed by all the child stars, done "We Are The World" style, was great. I loved seeing the guys from What's Happening, and the Brady Bunch, and all the other shows I watched as a kid.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I'm glad no one caught me watching this!
Review: This movie was embarrassingly bad. I hesitate to call it stupid because I've seen plenty of stupid movies that were far superior to this flick on every single level. By the time I was halfway through it, I realized I was not going to like this film. But I thought I'd finish watching it just in case it could a couple of good laughs out of me. Unfortunately, that just wasn't in the stars. I don't think I cracked a smile even once.

Throughout the movie David Spade speaks his lines as if he's reading from a cue card. The acting from the kids (especially the little girl) is completely bland. Part of the reason why was probably due to the fact that the lines were as cliche and contrived as any recently used in a comedy. These writers have borrowed the cheesiest kinds of lines from films like UNCLE BUCK and HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS. When Mom is about to kick Dickie out of the house, the kids chime in,

"Please, mom can't we give Dickie just one more chance?"

"Yeah, mom he's not so bad once you get to know him."

This is not David Spade at his best. This is not the kind of stuff that typical post-SNL entertainment is made of. Unless your standards of comedy exceed that of Adam Sandler (unfortunately, that's the pathetic mental level of most American moviegoers), it's highly unlikely you'll get any enjoyment out of this movie. In fact, I'll bet there are even some Sandler fans out there who hated it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: david spade--former funny guy
Review: Lotsa laffs for the first twenty minutes or so (Jon Lovitz as Dickie's slimy agent is especially funny) but it's all downhill as soon as Dickie moves to the burbs to learn corny life lessons in preparation for a big audition. Not only is this part of the movie sappy but it fails to make any sense. We're told Dickie never had a childhood but the guy's biggest problem is clearly that he never grew up. Nor is there any explanation as to how learning to do Kid 101 basics like riding a bicycle or mastering a Slip 'n' Slide (where was Dickie a child star--on Mars?!) is going to help him nail a dramatic movie part. The whole shebang winds up with a weird sing-a-long featuring several dozen genuine former child stars--but, again, what are non-child-star has-beens Charlene Tilton, Jeff Conaway and Eddie Mekka doing here???

For the former child-star real-deal, check out Judy Tenuda's "Desperation Boulevard", a far funnier (and darker) comedy in which she plays a female "Ricki Roberts."


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