Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star [WS]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Surprisingly touching (after all, this is a David Spade movie), Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is on the borderline of being worth watching, but as a DVD, Paramount has gone all out. The 1.85:1 transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions, is pleasingly presented. (A full-frame edition is also available separately.) The picture isn't flashy, considering this not a glamorous epic by any stretch of the imagination, but the image is still solid, with excellent translation of color and detail. Grain is kept to a minimum, while contrast levels are realized agreeably. While the English 5.1 Dolby Digital track isn't going to win any awards, it's equally satisfying in its own way. Dialogue is clear and natural, without any distractions, but as with the vast majority of lowbrow comedies, the sound is centered up front with little use (or need, one would assume) of any surround materials. The lower-end bass does pop in on occasion, however, giving the audio a slight boost. A nice plus is the number of supplements offered. Granted, Comedy Central's featurette Reel Comedy: Dickie Roberts and "The True Hollywood Story" (which has nothing to do with the similarly titled E! Entertainment series) cover similar ground and might just have been as good combined. In spite of this, plenty of cast and crew interviews make both worth watching. Unexpectedly more serious is the featurette "Pencil Dickie: Writing The Story" where star David Spade and writer Fred Wolf discuss this film, and their history together. For those that enjoy commentaries, two are offered here: one from director Sam Weisman and the other from Spade and Wolf. Neither is particularly interesting, and a single track with all three would probably have been a better idea. It's hard not to chuckle, though, at the music video for "Child Stars on Your Television." Accompanying the video is a featurette that looks at the making of the song and video. Also included are nine deleted scenes of fairly poor video quality, some which work and some which fall very flat. If all this weren't enough, rounding things out are the theatrical trailer for this film and The Fighting Temptations, Timeline, Beyond Borders, and School of Rock. ~ Trent Fordham, All Movie Guide

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English
• Features:
  • cc Commentary by director Sam Weisman
  • Commentary by writer/actor David Spade and writer Fred Wolf
  • The True Hollywood Story
  • "Pencil Dickie: Writing the Story" featurette
  • "Child Stars on Your Television" extended music video
  • Behind "Child Stars on Your Television"
  • Reel Comedy: Dickie Roberts
  • Deleted scenes
  • Theatrical trailer

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       David Spade - Dickie Roberts
       Mary McCormack - Grace
       Jon Lovitz - Sidney
       Craig Bierko - George Finney
       Jenna Boyd - Sally Finney

• Director:

  Sam Weisman

• Producer:

  Jack Giarraputo, Adam Sandler

• Screenwriter:

  David Spade, Fred Wolf

• Cinematographer:

  Thomas E. Ackerman

• Composer (Music Score):

  Christophe Beck, Waddy Wachtel

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Michael Dilbeck

• Editor:

  Roger Bondelli

• Production Designer:

  Dina Lipton

• Art Director:

  Marc Dabe

• Co-producer:

  Blair Breard

• Associate Producer:

  Tom McNulty

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