Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-07-2003, 05:34 PM:

09/06/2003, Cinemark 17, Spfld. OR, 4:35PM, house #8, DTS. Attendance about 100. No presentation complaints.

Well, sue me, but I kind of liked this. It made me laugh out loud more than a few times. I'm not a big David Spade fan, and this certainly didn't change my mind, but he was at worst tolerable, and occasionally very very funny. The bit with David Spade and the kid standing on stilts singing "Just My Imagination" to the new girl next door was very nicely done. I give this, oh, 2 3/4 stars out of 4. I'm in a generous mood. [Wink]

Be sure to watch the ending credits. They have a whole gaggle of former child actors doing a kind of bitter parody of "We Are The World", including Marcia Brady using the f-word. [thumbsup]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-08-2003, 02:07 AM:

I've been trying to figure out for a few days how to write a review on this one, but I think David has the general feeling of the movie. By definition, this movie should be stupid and very un-funny. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad and there were quite a few scenes that were laugh out loud funny. I'm not a big David Spade fan, but this one isn't too bad. I'm surprised this isn't doing all that well in theaters, but it will do incredible business on DVD.

Definitely stay for the end credits. The song they are singing is annoying and poorly written, but seeing all of the people they gathered is great.

2 1/2 out of 4 stars

Oh yeah, DEVIL RABBIT!!! [Big Grin]

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 09-08-2003, 08:26 PM:

This movie was Nucking Futs!

Again, another film I thought would be terrible but turned out to be pretty good. I actually laughed quite a bit, and that means I enjoyed this comedy. Oh, and Alyssa Milano...yummy!

AJG

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 09-10-2003, 10:16 PM:

Attendance: 2003/09/10 19:45, Carmike 10, Huntsville, AL, Auditorium 1, DTS/THX, Scope, actually filmed with anamorphic lens (Yay!)

This was a good movie, something I wasn't expecting when I went into it. I was expecting the usual dumb comedy, and this had a lot of dumb comedy elements, but it also had a heart. There were lots of things in this one that made me laugh.

I've always liked David Spade, back from his Saturday Night Live days.

Things that I thought were great:

The stilt scene, the "Britney Spears" cheerleader tryout girl, the disco tree house (a tree house with electricity?), the devil rabbit scene, that rhyme that the girl came up with (can someone remember it all and quote it?), the "I think there's a prize in here" gag with the cereal box (I'll have to use that on someone someday).
The song in the credits was very funny.

As for presentation, this movie had the exact same problem the movie I saw last night at a different complex had: the image was about a foot off-center to the left, making the image go past the left black masking onto the drapes while leaving an ugly one-foot dark area on the right of the screen.

I was surprised that one trailer was shown, then the movie started! Near the end of this movie, I noticed a lot of lab splices at the top of the image. Did anyone else notice these on print you've seen?

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 09-22-2003, 07:19 PM:

AMC Hamilton, 9/21, 7:15 PM show. Hall #6, attendance 40-50 -- included a lot of schoolkids for a Sunday night.

The "Film Snobs" dump all over Dickie Roberts and prefer [bs]

like Thirteen. Sorry, "Film Snobs". THIS is a fun movie.

David Spade has found his niche playing trailer-park heroes. An ex-child star spends a month with a normal family? No reality-TV show could top that. Bellyflop on the water slide with a little Wessonality? The best commercial for the stuff.

Besides, who recognized all the former child stars at the poker table? I had to see this movie when the "Film Snobs" name-checked Danny Bonaduce. [Big Grin]

The end-credits song isn't half-bad either. Given the quality of current pop music, that paen to former child stars is a masterpiece. And yes, a megaplex audience stuck around to see it.

Presentation: Image fit the masking perfectly and was very good with some random dirt. No lab splices on the print that's in the AMC Hamilton (theater opened only 1 print). Sound was OK but it was in Dolby. Why does Paramount avoid SDDS when SDDS is so prominent in AMC?

Preshow did drag on as AMC loaded a 6-pack of trailers: Duplex, Good Boy!, Brother Bear, Timeline, Stuck on You, School of Rock.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-22-2003, 09:36 PM:

We are playing this one late, just to fill in a slot. I liked it better than I ever thought I would. There are a few overly-stupid parts, but the poker scene had me on the floor. Barry Williams raising the pot with Brady Bunch memorabilia "easily worth 2 bucks on Ebay." Great stuff!