Synopsis
TV child star of the '70s, Dickie Roberts is now 35 and parking cars. Craving to regain the spotlight, he auditions for a role of a normal guy, but the director quickly sees he is anything but normal. Desperate to win the part, Dickie hires a family to help him replay his childhood and assume the identity of an average, everyday kid.
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Cast
- David SpadeDickie Roberts
- Mary McCormackGrace Finney
- Jon LovitzSidney Wernick
- Craig BierkoGeorge Finney
- Alyssa MilanoCyndi
- Rob ReinerSelf
- Scott TerraSam Finney
- Jenna BoydSally Finney
- John FarleyReferee
- Michael BufferSelf
Recommendations
- 80
Los Angeles Times
This sleek and sunny comedy is an all-too-rare example of smart and inventive Hollywood filmmaking. - 50
Entertainment Weekly
The number of levels on which these pros trade on their diminished reputations makes the movie an inside joke rather than a funny one. If Spade thinks otherwise, he's nucking futs. - 50
Philadelphia Inquirer
The film is intermittently funny and strangely intermittent. - 40
The New York Times
Maintaining a winking distance from his comic persona, Mr. Spade radiates a cunning show-business cynicism that lets you know he's aware that he's slumming to make a buck. - 38
Chicago Tribune
The best thing about star and co-writer David Spade's Dickie Roberts, Former Child Star is the end-title sequence, a big, sassy sing-along in which dozens of old TV child stars spew out defiant jokes about their old careers and fame's fickle fingers. - 38
Miami Herald
Whether his character is happy, sad, angry or scared, Spade affects precisely the same knowing smirk and sarcastic delivery. This one-note style makes him a funny stand-up comedian. But in a role, it's usually pure amateur hour. - 30
L.A. Weekly
Occasionally funny, cameo-speckled marshmallow. - 30
The A.V. Club
Spade can still be funny when he lets himself be mean, and Dickie Roberts shows glimmers of that dynamic, but they're muscled out by lazy slapstick and maudlin stuff.
