Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)

A thirty-something former child star hires a foster family to re-create the childhood he never had.

Director:

Sam Weisman

Writers:

Fred Wolf, David Spade

Stars:

David Spade, Mary McCormack, Alyssa Milano

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Spade	...	Dickie Roberts
Mary McCormack	...	Grace Finney
Craig Bierko	...	George Finney
Scott Terra	...	Sam Finney
Jenna Boyd	...	Sally Finney
John Farley	...	Referee
Bobby Slayton	...	Commentator
Michael Buffer	...	Michael Buffer
Fred Wolf	...	Dickie's Corner Man
Alyssa Milano	...	Cyndi
Emmanuel Lewis	...	Himself
Joey Diaz	...	Emmanuel's Entourage (as Joey 'Coco' Diaz)
Kevin Grevioux	...	Emmanuel's Entourage
Brian Clark	...	Guy in Car
Leif Garrett	...	Leif Garrett

Storyline

Once, he was on top of the world as a popular child actor on TV. Now, he's Hollywood's punchline about everything wrong with people who were famous as children. All Dickie Roberts wants to do is find that one gig that will restore his honor and everyone's love of him, so after learning that Rob Reiner's making an ambitious new movie destined to sweep the Oscars, Dickie's first in line to audition. He walks out having learned he certainly looks the part but can't act it... yet, owing to his very unusual childhood. To research the role, Dickie embarks on a bizarre scheme to live with a suburban family to see how the average American child lives, having them put him up as their "son". But once his gloves are off, Dickie discovers how great it is to be part of a true family, and whether he gets the part or not, his attempt at method acting will certainly change his life forever.

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Plot Keywords:

white panties | panties | marilyn monroe character | hare krishna | 2000s | 

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Taglines:

50 million people used to watch him on TV. Now he washes their cars.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, language and drug references

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dickie Roberts: (Former) Child Star

Filming Locations:

741 S Hudson Ave, Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,660,540, 7 September 2003, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$22,734,486, 23 November 2003

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Happy Madison Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sally's "Brick wall, waterfall" routine was something Jenna Boyd was doing on the set between takes. The filmmakers liked it and worked it into the script - twice.

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Goofs

When Mr. Reiner is driving out of the parking lot before he gets attacked, the passenger-side window is down. Moments later, it is up.

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Quotes

[Acting as a 6-year-old, finding a new bike on Christmas morning]
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.

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Crazy Credits

About 30 former child stars sing "Child Stars On Your Television" a la "We Are The World".

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Connections

References True Lies (1994)

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Soundtracks

Son Sueños
by David Barragan and Christophe Beck
Performed by David Barragan

User Reviews

Oh no! A homage to former child stars!

The idea of a movie celebrating actors who are clinging to long-passed years in the entertainment business is quite ridiculous. It's like those people on television in their forties clinging trying to recapture their high school reputations. Isn't that what has-been television shows like the Surreal Life are for? Anyways, Dickie Roberts, as the title obviously indicates, is a celebration of just that.

Briefly, the movie is about a former childstar named Dickie Roberts who was the "nucking futs" catch phrase kid on a television show called the "Glimmer Gang." Thirty some years later and washed up like his former child star poker buddies (which includes that incessant pest, Danny Bonaduce -- talking about making a career out of nothing), Dickie Roberts is expecting a major comeback, if only he can score a role in the lead of Rob Reiner's new movie. By doing so, Dickie thinks all will be fine, at least relationship-wise, as it was when he was a boy. Unfortuantely, Reiner is not convinced that Dickie can handle the feat being that part requires someone who had all the childhood experiences he didn't. That's why he hires a family.

I suppose this movie can be broken down into two parts: the first of pre-Dickie development (where he is out and about searching his part) and the second of Dickie, childhood-in-the-making which begins once he finds himself a family. The second half is where much of the humor exists while the first half is mostly just schtick with consistent references to the lives of former childstars. Thus, in my opinion, once Dickie does find himself a family, that's where the film starts to pick up and really get to be funny. In some respect, the eccentric Dickie being placed in your normal "Rob Reiner kind of family" (complete with the type of family and neighborhood Reiner often uses in his films, namely North), is like Pauley Shore interacting with the South Dakota farming family in Son in Law. In fact, Spade even starts to take on some of Shore's qualities with his little joke rambles.

It's a pretty funny movie, and given the other reviews posted, you probably shouldn't expect much from it if you're not really impressed with David Spade humor.