Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star - Plot

Plot

Dickie Roberts is a former child star who shot to fame on an eponymous TV sitcom called The Glimmer Gang with his catchphrase "This is Nuckin' Futs!". His career subsequently halted after his 6th birthday. Since his heyday, he has been reduced to parking cars at Morton's and appearing on Celebrity Boxing, where he is matched with Emmanuel Lewis. In the public eye, Dickie is washed up.

Dickie is absolutely convinced that a new Rob Reiner movie in the works, Mr. Blake's Backyard, will be his comeback vehicle. Even after his agent does not land him an audition, Dickie persists. He pesters Tom Arnold at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting to hook him up with Reiner. After he is kicked out because he's not an alcoholic, Dickie fakes being wasted and crashes what turns out to be a Lamaze class. However, Brendan Fraser (in an uncredited cameo appearance) is in the class and he agrees to call Reiner for Dickie.

Reiner bluntly tells Dickie that the part is not within his abilities because it requires knowing how a regular person lives. Unfortunately, Dickie never had a real childhood: he grew up in the limelight, and then his mother abandoned him when his show was canceled. Desperate to prove to Reiner that he's right for the part, Dickie sells his raunchy autobiography to raise $30,000. With the money, he pays a family to "adopt" him for a month. As expected, once Dickie hires his "family," things do not go well as he tries to fit into the household.

Dickie learns much about himself and life in general, and finally lands the part. Along the way, he helps the family's son score a date with his dream girl and helps the daughter join the pep squad. The main lesson he learns is from Blake's Backyard itself: sometimes the things you want are in your own backyard. When his 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 come to love.

The movie ends with a faux E! True Hollywood Story 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 closing credits are a take-off on Relief albums listed as "To help former child stars". The song includes The Brady Bunch's Maureen McCormick singing "please don't call me 'Marcia' or I'll bust your fucking head" and many references to old television sitcoms.

The movie shows Dickie interacting with numerous former child stars, played by over two dozen actual former stars lampooning their careers, such as Leif Garrett, Barry Williams, Dustin Diamond and Danny Bonaduce.