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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
Paramount Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, language and drug references
Starring
David Spade,
Ashley Edner,
Scott Terra,
Jon Lovitz,
Mary McCormack,
Alyssa Milano,
Doris Roberts,
and
Rob Reiner
Dickie Roberts (Spade) is a 35-year old former child star. Now an out-of-work actor turned parking valet, Dickie is desperate to audition for a great role that could revitalize his career, but the part requires him to play a "normal" guy. Problem is, Dickie is anything but normal. He decides to hire a family to adopt him so he can relive his childhood and, in essence, grow up from scratch. (Paramount)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Fred Wolf
David Spade
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Sam Weisman
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 17, 2004
Video: February 17, 2004
Theatrical: September 5, 2003
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
99 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
This sleek and sunny comedy is an all-too-rare example of smart and inventive Hollywood filmmaking.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Hartlaub
The rare David Spade movie that won't make you hate yourself in the morning.
63
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Manages to fascinate more than it entertains.
60
Variety
Joe Leydon
Offers a largely satisfying mix of broad slapstick, seriocomic sentimentality and mostly amusing satirical thrusts at easy targets.
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Imparts its fair share of laughs but bogs down after a solid start and never makes anything special out of its premise.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
There are laughs, to be sure, and some gleeful supporting performances, but after a promising start the movie sinks in a bog of sentiment.
50
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
The movie's ridiculous good humor -- laced with just enough barbs to keep it from going soft -- suggest that it's been made with some thought and care. I often found myself laughing in spite of no one, not even myself.
50
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Sharp satire or feel-good foolishness? Silly sap won out.
50
Wall Street Journal
Joanne Kaufman
Squanders endless opportunities for sharp satire, keeping to a steady course of tame, toothless comedy, and wrapping things up with the kind of vapid ending "The Brady Bunch" would be proud to call its own.
50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
After a smart start, it sinks into sentimental goo that traps even the aggressively snarky Spade.
50
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
The majority of Dickie Roberts winds up looking like a tame episode of the "Brady Bunch" -- spiked with Spade-esque crudity.
50
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
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
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
The movie has been made with consummate carelessness but with occasional moments of knowing humor.
50
TV Guide
Angel Cohn
The unique musical ending is worth the wait.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
The film is intermittently funny and strangely intermittent.
50
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Spade goes sweet and gooey. This is nucking futs.
40
The Hollywood Reporter
Sheri Linden
Generally succeeds -- in hit-and-miss fashion -- at bridging the gap between unlikable jerk and misunderstood good guy, though it's still something of a leap to leading-man territory.
40
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
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.
40
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Spade claims he latched onto his snide persona to distinguish himself from the pack; it's served him well as an ensemble player and a big-screen foil to Chris Farley, but as a romantic lead he's hopeless.
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
Isn't so much a movie as a 90-minute Trivial Pursuit contest to name bit players from TV's distant past.
38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
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
Charles Savage
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
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
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.
30
LA Weekly
John Dentino
Occasionally funny, cameo-speckled marshmallow.
30
Village Voice
Alex Pappademas
Obtuse and creepy.
30
Slate
David Edelstein
It underscores the gruesome legacy of Saturday Night Live in American movies...They haven't liberated screen comedy, they've left it neutered--or, should I say, Spade.
25
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
There's a funny movie struggling inside of Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Too bad it never gets out.
25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Four chuckles and a lively final-credits sequence are a mighty poor score for 99 minutes of alleged comedy, and the sentimental stuff is even worse.
20
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
When the movie's not playing stupid, it's aiming for sickly sweet sincerity. It's such a jarring and inevitably juvenile juxtaposition it comes off like a Hallmark card parody written by the staffers at "Cracked."
20
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
This David Spade comedy breaks an ankle, ruptures several knee ligaments and hits the dirt harder than a felled linebacker. Best thing you can do for this movie? Leave it writhing in the throes of forced humor.
20
Austin Chronicle
Steve Davis
The best bit, however, is not even in the movie, but in the film’s end credits: an expletive-filled parody of We Are the World in which a host of has-beens croon about their halcyon days as child stars.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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