David Spade, Mary McCormack, Scott Terra, Jenna Boyd, Craig Bierko, John Lovitz, Alyssa Milano, and Rob Reiner, directed by Sam Weisman
The perils of the grown-up child actor, of having lived a surreal star-studded childhood that's impossible to live up to, is the big theme here. As an elaborate inside joke, Spade plays poker with a bunch of real-life child stars, (Dustin Diamond from Saved by the Bell, Danny Boteducci from the Partridge Family, Gary Williams from The Brady Bunch, etc.) and the closing credits feature an original piece about the "child star curse", sung by 20 more real-life stars.
Perhaps the filmmakers were so proud of themselves for getting so many childhood stars together to voluntarily make fun of themselves that they slacked a little on the actual film. I'm not saying the film is flat-out awful, but it could have been a little better, mainly in the comedy department. The movie's plot was funny and clever, and several points in it were good springboards for humor, but the opportunities for laughs were passed over and the jokes were few and spaced out. The story itself has a nice pace to it, and it's not necessarily boring, but at the same time it's a ridiculous premise. It feeds the plot well that Dickie Roberts would live with a family and learn from that experience, but realistically, wouldn't Rob Reiner be concerned about Roberts' ability to act? After all, Roberts is played by Spade, who's a comic first and an actor second, so it was never entirely convincing in the first place.
Basically, a premise like this is pure comedy and needed to be handled as such. Some of the cast members had the right idea, however. Jon Lovitz as a brash agent who will sink to any depth of sleaziness for his clients, was a great caricature who you knew not to take too seriously. Craig Bierko, as the family's neglecting dad, and Alyssa Milano, as Dicky's on-and-off gold digger girlfriend, both had their moments and made me wish they got more mileage out of their parts.