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Former child stars David Spade,Dustin Diamond, Corey Feldman, Donny Bonaduce, Barry Williams and Lief Garrett star in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.
DICKIE ROBERTS:
FORMER CHILD STAR
PG-13, 99 minutes. South Wind 12
David Spade delivers his usual smart-ass antics in his comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. While these antics are nothing new, it's funny for the audience to witness Spade insult large women, small children and a coterie of washed-up actors.
The movie tells the story of Dickie Roberts, a sitcom star from the 1970s, who can't get a job now to save his life. More than anything in the world, Dickie wants to be big again, so he decides to reboot his maturity system, by reliving his childhood. Dickie hires the Tracy family hoping they will help him get a part in Rob Reiner's new movie.
The Tracy family members, dad, George (Craig Bierko, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), mom, Grace (Mary McCormack, Private Parts) and kids, Sam (Scott Terra, Daredevil) and Sally (Jenna Boyd) provide excellent straight men for Spade's antics. The Tracy's even has a few comedic moments of their own.
Unfortunately, the movie takes a sappy turn, and none of the actors, including Spade, have the chops to deliver the dramatic goods. Much of the sappy story plays more like a poorly written soap-opera than a comedy written by David Spade and Fred Wolf (Dirty Work).
Director Sam Weisman (What's the Worse the Could Happen?) does a solid
job of leading the cast through this piece. He never takes away from the actors with flashy camera work and lets Spade deliver most of the film's jokes.
The movie gets a little lost in showcasing former child stars like Emanuelle Lewis, Dustin Diamond and Leif Garret. It seems more concerned with showing that these stars still exist rather than forwarding the plot. Each scene containing a former child star seems to drag on as the stars prove why they are washed up. Most of them could not act in the first place.
The stars get their moment to shine in the final credit sequence. Former child stars fill a recording studio to record a song reminiscent of We Are the World, asking the public to allow the former stars to have their privacy. The song, featuring cast members from The Brady Bunch, Happy Days and What's Happenin', is pretty funny, especially when Maureen McCormick (Marcia, The Brady Bunch) drops the f-bomb.
The stars and sappiness aside, this movie is worth the ticket price just to see Spade riff on so many prime comedic targets. Fans of his Saturday Night Live days should not miss this one.
—Cal Creek Grade:B
BRUCE ALMIGHTY
PG-13. 94 minutes. SUA
Imagine what you would do if you were bestowed with the Almighty's powers for a limited time. That is the flimsy
premise of Tom Shadyac's Bruce Almighty, which only works because Jim Carrey is the man with the power. As Bruce Nolan, Carrey is a fed-up Buffalo reporter who is in the midst of trying to win the coveted anchor spot at his local station. When his dreams are shattered, he curses God (Morgan Freeman) who then gives Nolan powers to see if he can do any better. Carrey returns to his prized comedic form with ease, and Jennifer Aniston holds her own as Nolan's lovable girlfriend, Grace. The surprisingly touching ending overshadows the films funny moments when Bruce has to risk everything to win back Grace's love. In the end, perhaps due to heavenly intervention, Bruce Almighty is a fine addition to Carrey's comedic resume with a lot more heart and soul than expected.
—Lindsey Ramsey
Grade: B
CABIN FEVER
R. 94 minutes. South Wind 12
Horror fans have won a seasonal sweepstakes this fall as Cabin Fever, the next in a long lineup of scary movies, hits the screen.
Four college grads road-trip to the Carolina Mountains to stay at a secluded cabin. Then something slowly starts to grow inside one of the girls, digging beneath her flesh, making bubbles on her forearms. The others freak, lock her in a shed, and turn on each other as paranoia drives them over the edge.
If early buzz is to be trusted on this one, Cabin Fever may turn out to be the scariest movie in years.
Stephen Shupe Not Reviewed
MATCHSTICK MEN
PG-13, 116 minutes, South Wind 12
Roy, an obsessive-compulsive con artist, (Nicholas Cage), learns he has a daughter (Alison Lohman) that is more than willing to join in the fun in Matchstick Men. Roy is trying to pull off a high-risk scam, and with the arrival of his daughter, his ticks and nerves could not get worse. The early buzz for this film is good, and Nicholas Cage, fresh off his Oscar nomination for Adaptation couldn't look better in the trailer. Gladiator's Ridley Scott, directs the film, is certainly capable of making a film that is high
energy and fun to watch. All this, with scene-stealers Alison Lohman and Sam Rockwell, should make for a slick and fun crime/father-daughter heist.
Lindsey Ramsey Not Reviewed
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO
R. 101 minutes, South Wind 12
Director Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) brings his guitar slinging anti-hero El Mariachi to the screen for the third time in Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
In this installment, CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp) drags the hiding El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) into the action to kill drug lord Barillo (Willem Dafoe) who is trying to overthrow the Mexican president. The movie promises non-stop action, with a bit of intrigue, betrayal and vengeance.
The film also features Salma Hayek, Enrique Igelsias and Cheech Marin.
Fans of Rodriguez's previous El Mariachi films, El Martachi and Desperado, will not want to miss this one.
—Cal Creek Not Reviewed
THE ORDER
R. 102 minutes, South Wind 12
Oh, the horror of a filmmaker who fails as miserably as Brian Helgeland does in The Order, a morose piece of hackwork that's a movie anomaly: a fright film with no pulse.
Heath Ledger stars as a rogue priest searching for The Sin Eater, a mystery man with the power to take away sins. For his miracle work, The Sin Eater places a crust of bread on someone's chest and then eats their sins, which look like translucent jellyfish that float into his body. And that is about as creative as this movie gets.
Helgeland promises demons and revelations that never arrive. We're left with mere mortals, who warble monosyllabic line readings and look as if they have not slept in about a decade. It is all painfully solemn; Helgeland can not even direct a sex scene without pumping it full of apocalyptic doom.
The Order is a vision of hell as eternal slumber.
—Stephen Shupe Grade: D-
thursday, september 11, 2003
jayplay