by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 01, 2008

"Dickie Roberts" is hilarious, starring David Spade as a former child star who's struggling for adult success. It's a good showcase for Spade's young-and-arrogant persona - he even co-authored the script - but it also delivers a smart message about show business.

The movie opens with poor Dickie entering the boxing ring for a celebrity match against real-life former child star Emmanuel Lewis. Lewis (now 32) enters with his posse, covered with tattoos and looking stone cold, before he pummels Dickie decisively. (Even the referee kicks him in the groin!) Then on the way home, while jacking up his girlfriend's car to fix a flat, Dickie sends it tumbling down a mountain. It's hard not to have some sympathy for the ultimate loser.

The movie recreates the familiar story of a grownup stars now out of luck. Dickie lives in a magical world where former child celebrities like Leif Garrett and Corey Feldman now humbly play poker together, each hoping desperately for that impossible comeback. (Even Dickie's girlfriend is played by Alyssa Milano, one of the original child stars of "Who's The Boss.") Dickie is determined to finally break the pattern of the unsuccessful child star - and after all his bad luck, the audience is rooting for him.

But the movie stays weird - and funny. (At one point, the actor who played Greg on the Brady Bunch taunts Dickie with a strange challenge. "I bet you a hundred dollars and the actual football we used to hit Marcia with in the 'My nose, My nose' episode, that Brendan Frasier never calls!") And while Dickie believes he can earn a part in a serious film by networking at a meeting of alcoholics, he's kicked because he's not an alcoholic. He returns - drunk - onto to discover it's been replaced by a class on childbirthing techniques!

The movie gets a lot of milage out of jokes about former child stars, but eventually it has to find its way to a plot. Dickie develops an elaborate scheme which involves selling sell his memoirs for a fast $20,000, and then using the money to hire a normal family so he can enjoy one full month of a normal childhood. He believes he will then understand "regular" people so he can land a crucial part.

And then the movie goes for something even more unexpected: character development. To the surprise of everyone, the family discovers that Dickie's bad attitude is actually good for something. (For example, his sarcastic trash-talking is just what the youngest son needs for standing up to the teasing of classmates.) He develops genuine affection for the "mother" he's hired after her husband runs off and abandons the family. And there's a genuinely sweet moment when Christmas day arrives, and Dickie is treated to the toy that seems to symbolize all the childhood sweetness he'd missed out on - "Candyland."

The plot feels a little tacked on, and some critics complained that the jokes were over the top. (The movie was produced by Adam Sandler.) But nearly everyone agreed that "Dickie Roberts" culminated with a final scene that was significant and maybe even meaningful. The producers assembled a giant chorus of former child stars, all singing a "We Are The World"-type anthem about the real indignity they suffer as unlucky former actors who everyone recognizes. There they all are - the real thing. Gary Coleman from Diff'rent Strokes, Maureen "Marcia Brady" McCormick, the two brothers from "Leave it to Beaver" and even McCauley Culkin.

It's an amazing moment of real show business history that the movie can't really compete with. But that's not to say that the rest of "Dickie Roberts" wasn't funny, exciting, and occasionally even sweet.

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