Meet Wally Sparks

I first saw MEET WALLY SPARKS on the usa network late one night and I have to say that MEET WALLY SPARKS is Rodney Dangerfield's best movie. Unlike most of his other movies where there are only a few funny bits, MEET WALLY SPARKS is funny throughout the whole movie. Pretty much every single one of the jokes are about sex-related material which isn't a complaint, just a statement. I really think that Rodney Dangerfield and Peter Basil did wrte a great script and a very funny movie. Director Peter Baldwin did a good job too for his first movie [he's directed several television shows]. If you like Rodney Dangerfield, you'll love MEET WALLY SPARKS.

A lot of energy was put into this movie. Dangerfield has some funny one-liners, but a lot of them are not funny, or you'll guess before he utters them. The plot is alternately meandering or frozen for long periods of time. (And the plot should have stayed at the talk show subject, not some dumb plot about Dangerfield crashing a govenor's pad.) Replay the climatic interview scene after watching it once - you'll see that some of Dangerfield's actions don't make that much sense. Also, see how many times the director shoots Dangerfield from the neck down - obviously, it's a stunt double.

A memo to Burt Reynolds: don't wear that particular toupee again.

This film was good fun, and Rodney as always stole the show. Unfortunately, with the jokes it seemed when it rained it poured, though when it didn't, there was a drought. Some of the film - the beggining few scenes, the shows all through the film & some various little bits like the wedding were great & really funny, mainly thanks to Rodney, but it seemed they just didn't think when they cast of something 'cause some of the actors JUST DIDN'T suit their roles. Burt Reynolds must have done this to stay out of the red 'cause the role REALLY wasn't him & the stooge guy who worked for him also was terrible in his part. I was cringing through some of their scenes. This film has enough funny scenes in it to last on you, & a couple of great scenes which remind you why Rodney Dangerfield is your favourite comedien - In particular 'but wait... there's even more!' Unfortunately, it just doesn't quite gel. You need a couple of beers with it, & then it's just great :)

"Meet Wally Sparks" is a screwball comedy in the vein of an Adam Sandler vehicle or latter-day "National Lampoon" movie. Sure, it's dumb. Sure, it's cheap. Sure, there's no Palm D'Or award sitting on the director's shelf. But some movies are not destined for accolades or AFI lists or anything above the $8.99-and-under used video rack at Blockbuster.

This movie has a drunken horse, three Southern ladies (one of them Cindy Williams) dancing in their skivvies to "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On", a fight between Sumo wrestlers and WWF stars, and Tony Danza reprising his role as Tony from "Taxi" doing a Rodney Dangerfield impression. Oh, and lest it be overlooked, RODNEY FRIGGIN' DANGERFIELD.

Come on. It's goofy, it's fun, it doesn't cost more than the price of a pack of cigarettes to own. Rodney and Oscar may not mix, but live-action cartoons and Rodney go pretty well together.

Wally Sparks (Rodney Dangerfield) is the loud-mouthed host of a trashy daytime talk show. His boss Lenny Spencer (Burt Reynolds) threatens to cancel the show due to sponsor pressure. He is given a week to change the tenure of the show. He attends a party of conservative critic Georgia Governor Floyd Preston (David Ogden Stiers) which turns into publicity bonanza.

This is pure Dangerfield in his character and the quality of the movies that he leads. It's low brow comedy. He's crass and he's good at it. He remains the loveable everyman. It doesn't really make sense for him to stay in the mansion but making sense is not the highest priority. It has its fun but it doesn't really hold together. It's a bad good bad comedy.