Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is a 2003 film directed by Sam Weisman. Dickie Roberts is an eponymous former childhood star of a TV sitcom. Since the cancellation of the show, Dickie is well-known for his catch phrase "This is Nuckin' Futs!", and his habit of wearing gloves 24/7. Dickie finally gets a chance for a comeback when he auditions for the lead role of Rob Reiner's new movie, Blake's Backyard. However, Reiner (played by himself, of course) kindly advises him that the part is not within his abilities, because it requires knowing how a regular "family-type" person lives. Unfortunately, Dickie never had a real childhood, having lived in the limelight while his show was popular. The movie shows Dickie interacting with numerous other fellow former childstars (played by over two dozen actual former stars lampooning their own careers, such as Leif Garrett, Barry Williams, Dustin Diamond and Danny Bonaduce). When Dickie gets a shot at the movie, he realizes that in order to learn the part, he will have to relive his childhood. For $20,000 dollars, a family "adopts" him for a month. However, things does not go well as he tries to fit into the household. Dickie learns much about himself, and life in general, and of course gets the part. Along the way he helps the family's son get a date with his dream girl, and the daughter get on the pep squad. Nevertheless, the main lesson he learned is from Blake's Backyard itself: sometimes the things you want are in your own backyard. When his own gold-digger girlfriend runs off with the self-centered father of his fake family, Dickie gives up the part to be with the family he has comes to love. The movie ends with a faux Entertainment Tonight-type report on Dickie, who now turns his real story into a new sitcom that uses all of his old friends, as well as his new family (including the mother, whom he has married). The final scenes are a take-off on Relief albums, this one listed as "To help former child stars". The lyrics include such treats as Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) threatening to "bust the f**king head" of the next person who calls her Marcia, and many in-jokes for fans of old TV sitcoms. Tagline: 50 million people used to watch him on TV. Now he washes their cars. |