Dickie Roberts - Former Child Star (DVD)

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is about a young boy in the 70's who's mother keeps sending him on auditions for TV shows. At the age of 6 he is cast in a TV sitcom called The Glimmer Gang and won the hearts of the audience with his crooked smile and catchphrase "This is Nucking Futs!"

Not long after, the show is cancelled and Dickie's mother leaves him. Thirty or so years later Dickie works as a car parking valet but is ...
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Rob tells Dickie that the main character in the movie he's casting for is exactly like him and Dickie would be perfect for the part. The only problem? Dickie missed out on the most important part of adulthood, a childhood. Without that he wouldn't have the right range of emotions to play this huge part. This gives Dickie an idea.
He posts an advert in the local paper for a family that he can live with to redo his childhood and ... more

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is about a young boy in the 70's who's mother keeps sending him on auditions for TV shows. At the age of 6 he is cast in a TV sitcom called The Glimmer Gang and won the hearts of the audience with his crooked smile and catchphrase "This is Nucking Futs!"

Not long after, the show is cancelled and Dickie's mother leaves him. Thirty or so years later Dickie works as a car parking valet but is desperate to get back into show business to regain the love of his mother and TV audiences. He hears that Rob Reiner is casting auditions for the lead role in a movie called "Mr Blake's Backyard" and thanks to some help from Brendan Fraser manages to meet Rob and ask for an audition.

Rob tells Dickie that the main character in the movie he's casting for is exactly like him and Dickie would be perfect for the part. The only problem? Dickie missed out on the most important part of adulthood, a childhood. Without that he wouldn't have the right range of emotions to play this huge part. This gives Dickie an idea.
He posts an advert in the local paper for a family that he can live with to redo his childhood and he is offering said family $20.000 to do it. After visiting with many crackpots he finally comes across a family that's perfect, white picket fence and all. The mother isn't sure its a good idea, but the dad's a money grabbing workaholic, who seems to have issues with woman and feels that having Dickie stay for a while will help him with his career as a car salesman.

Dickie moves in and sets up a waterbed in the kids room much to the dismay of Sam and Sally the two kids. They help him learn to be a normal kid by teaching him that kids don't drink beer or coffee, and what toys kids play with including teaching him to ride a bike. After a while of calling Dickie "Stranger Danger" the kids take a liking to him. Grace (the mother) reads the script for the movie Dickie wants the lead role in and completely understands why he wants the part and tries to help him out by re creating Christmas so Dickie can play the part of a young boy waking up on Christmas morning and finding the red bike he asked for under the tree.

After about a month Dickie gets the audition with Rob Riener and gets the part, several days later he jets off to begin shooting. Whilst on the plane being chatted up by two airhostesses' he realises his life has become just like the character he is about to play in the movie. He had found exactly what he wanted in life and it was right in his own back yard. He quits the movie and goes back to Grace and the kids to become a family with them. In the meantime the father had a fling with Dickie's ex girlfriend and left his family.

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
Rated PG13 for crude and sex related humour, language and drug references.
Runtime: 98mins

Starring:

David Spade - Dickie Roberts
Doris Roberts - Peggy Roberts
Mary McCormack - Grace Finney
Craig Bierko - George Finny
Scott Terra - Sam Finny
Jenna Boyd - Sally Finny
Jon Lovitz - Sidney Wernick

Guest Starring:
Dick Van Patten
Emmanuel Lewis
Leif Garrett
Tom Arnold
Brendon Fraser
Corey Fieldman
Rob Reiner
And many more guest actors playing themselves.

Written by: David Spade and Fred Wolf

This is truly a brilliant movie. Mostly because its not written like most other comedy
movies of its genre. It tells a story about a guy and throughout it keeps sticking to this storyline and doesn't go off the path at all and delve into other issues; the whole thing is centred on Dickie. Although we learn a lot about the people around him, its enough to know who they are and what role they play in his life. It's not exactly really smutty which I think makes it even funnier because they don't have to be overly crude or disgusting to get laughs. Mixed in with the comedy its a movie about finding out who you are and this becomes more clear as the movie goes on, with slight romance at the end, but not enough to ruin the movie for you. The romance in my opinion was slightly tacked on and could have done without.

What I liked about it was it wasn't a particularly long movie which means that there wasn't things in the movie that didn't need to be there, neither are you watching the clock wondering when its going to be over.

The addition of all the guest stars didn't ruin the movie one bit; it just made it so much better. The scene where Dickie and other former child stars are sitting around playing poker and wondering why people like The Rock and George Clooney are so popular is really funny. If your watching do not stop the movie when the credits begin to roll for some this is the best part. Many people who were child actors and a few adult actors back 30 years ago all sing a song about being child actors, which is really funny. Its called Child Stars on Your Television - a parody of We are the World. Some of the lines are:

Thank you for letting us in your living rooms
To entertain you before bed
But if one more person calls me Marcia
I'll bust his freaking head.

Sung by the original Marcia Brady.

Look out for Todd Bridges part, priceless.

Speaking of the music, just the music they use throughout the movie is great and very noticeable. Good Charlotte Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous, Le Freak Chic, Don't Give up on Us David Soul, and Greatest Day by Bowling for Soup. I only noticed this the second time I watched it but really well done on the music I loved it!

David Spade plays a brilliant character in this movie. I really love him as an actor anyway and in comedy parts he really is the best. Part of the reason he is so good is because he co wrote it so he probably had no problems getting into the character. His interaction with the kids was really great and the scene with the water slide is so funny, and you can feel the pain as he slides across it with no water on. David Spade is one of those actors who can laugh at himself so the embarrassing parts of the movie are just played up by him. e.g.: The scene where he dyes his hair and it goes wrong. Not only was he good in the funny scenes but he made you feel bad for the character in the emotional scenes too, in the end you're on Dickie's side and its great how you actually watch him evolve as a character.

Craig Bierko, plays the dad of the family, George. Although he isn't in very much of the movie. (Only has about 7 lines if I remember correctly) Even in that small space of time he really makes you hate his character! He's arrogant, pushy, doesn't respect his wife or love his kids, which he sort of admits to Dickie in one scene. A job well done.

Mary McCormack is a wonderful actress in this movie. It's so different to see her as a blonde but playing the part of a quiet, housemother who loves her kids. She pulls it off from the moment she steps on the scene. Your praying for this woman to come out of her shell and not be so downtrodden by her over demanding husband.

In Dickie Roberts: former Child Star, Scott Terra plays Sam and Jenna Boyd plays Sally. I've never seen Scott in any other movies before so he was a whole new actor for me, and at his age I think he did a wonderful job. He kept his character as a prude, well behaved boy, maybe slightly rough around he edges when he doesn't agree with something, and his chemistry with Spade was great. Jenna, I have seen in other movies and from this I know that she was already a very good actress at the time. Cute and confident she plays the part of Sally amazingly, again the scenes with her and Spade were delightful and played such a huge part in Dickie's change. The cheerleading tryouts are great.

Doris Roberts as Peggy Roberts wasn't a very memorable part for her, especially since she's been in so many other things. It didn't bring out her good acting style at all and she was only in the first five minutes of the movie so there was no time to know her character through her acting rather than what the voiceover was telling us. A nice bit part but wouldn't have mattered if someone else had played Peggy.

Lastly the ever-popular Jon Lovitz played Sidney Wernick, a phone call dodging agent who will do anything to get his acts an audition. Including giving Rob Reiner a kidney as the movie progresses. As always Jon shines in his performance and you swear the part was made for him. Not just with acting was he great, but with jokes and his ability to make scenes funny even when he's the only one there. Defiantly one to watch if you're a Lovitz fan.

Some of my favourite quotes are:

Dickie is acting as a 6yr old to show Rob Reiner what a good actor he is.
Dickie Roberts: Holy shit, a bike!
Rob Reiner: You're six.
Dickie Roberts: Holy crap, a bike!
Rob Reiner: You're six.
Dickie Roberts: Goo-goo, ga-ga, bikey!
Rob Reiner: Too far back

Grace is pushing Dickie down the sidewalk in a stroller
Grace Finney: This feels a little odd
Dickie Roberts: Dude, I'm the one in the stroller
Grace Finney: Did you just call me, dude?
Dickie Roberts: I mean mommy

Mrs. Gertrude: (The Finny's neighbour) Aren't you a bit big to be in a stroller?
Dickie Roberts: Aren't you bit big to be on the sidewalk?

Dickie Roberts: What? Cat got your tongue or did you eat that for breakfast too?

Dickie Roberts: seeing bump on receptionist's head Yikes!... I mean, not yikes. I mean what bump?

EXTRAS
Special Features
· Commentary by Director Sam Weisman
· Commentary by writer/actor David Spade and writer Fred Wolf
· The True Hollywood Story
· Pencil Dickie: Writing The Story
· Behind "Child Stars On Your Television"
· Reel Comedy: Dickie Roberts
· "Child Stars On Your Television" extended music video
· Deleted scenes
· Theatrical trailer
DVD Technical Information:
· Audio: 5.1 Surround, Dolby Surround (English), Dolby Surround (French)
· Subtitles: English
· Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen

Commentary by Director Sam Weisman
I wasn't blown away by this and really unless your interested in the technical side of this I doubt you will be either. Sounds like a lovely guy and clearly knows what he's talking about, if you ever think of going into that sort of career it's worth a listen. Didn't do much for me though. If you're a fan of the film you'll want to listen to this at least once anyway because once you become a fan of that sort its nice to hear about the technical behind the scenes stuff.

Commentary by writer/actor David Spade and writer Fred Wolf
The second commentary by the two writers Spade and Wolf was much better. It's great to hear about all the stories from when they were on set with the guest stars. Even if your not a huge fan of the film its great to listen to. If you are a fan of the film you will be blown away as this commentary is much more interesting and has a lot more insider info on the movie.

The True Hollywood Story
A look at the making of the film and includes lots of interviews with David Spade and the rest of the cast and the former child actors. I liked watching this the actors had a lot to say and funny things that happened and what they liked about filming the movie.

Pencil Dickie: Writing The Story
I was expecting a lot from this but it's just a look at Spade and Wolf who wrote the movie and unless you're interested in scriptwriting or how they evolved into writing the movie then it's not interesting. There's a lot in there about their lives too.

Behind "Child Stars On Your Television"
A behind-the-scenes look at how David Spade and his crew were able to get all of the former actors and actresses into the film. Worth the watch.

Reel Comedy: Dickie Roberts
This is an American TV show called Comedy Central. Sort of like an hour looking at who's in the movie and what to expect from it with lots of clips. It's the sort of thing they show on TV before the movie comes out to make people go and see it. It includes really funny parodies of Save the Last Dance and What Woman Want starring these former child stars in roles they feel they should have got. Emmanuel Lewis teaching Erin Moran how to be a hip-hop dancer in the Save the Last Dance parody, is classic. Plus clips from the film, which if you watched the movie first do get in the way sometimes, interview snippets with Spade and company riding in the back of his car as he talks to them, and Todd Bridges trying out for the Eddie Murphy role in 48 hours.

"Child Stars On Your Television" extended music video
As I said above this extra music at the end of the credits was brilliant so defiantly watch this extended music video, it will have you in stitches if only for the song lyrics. Looks like the actors had a brilliant time filming this, great performance.

Deleted scenes
There are more deleted scenes on this then I expected. As DVD's go I would say this is one of the better ones opting for 9 deleted scenes, which didn't take anything from the movie by being taken out, but were still funny and interesting to watch.

Theatrical trailer
Pretty interesting to see actually. Shows the trailers they do on T advertising the movie. I love how these things are put together taking the best parts of the movie to highlight why you should see it mixed with dialogue from the movie.

If your considering buying this DVD for the price you can get it now I would say go for it. It averages around £6-£7 and with all the extras I think its worth it. If you hate the extras but liked the movie £6 isn't much at all.

If anything it will be the cast and their comedy performances that make this movie for you rather then the actual storyline. I personally really enjoyed it and would rate it a B.  

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