Movies starring Fred Wolf
Fred began work as a stand-up comedian in the early days of the "comic boom" in Los Angeles and started submitting jokes to Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, et. al., which propelled him from performing into writing. After a series of smaller writing assignments, Fred's big break came when he was asked to be a staff writer for SNL in the early 80s. His success there springboarded into a series of plum writing jobs, and after SNL went through a down period, they re-structured their staff, replaced all the prime-time players and asked Fred to come back in head-writer capacity ostensibly to help in righti ...
show all Fred began work as a stand-up comedian in the early days of the "comic boom" in Los Angeles and started submitting jokes to Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, et. al., which propelled him from performing into writing. After a series of smaller writing assignments, Fred's big break came when he was asked to be a staff writer for SNL in the early 80s. His success there springboarded into a series of plum writing jobs, and after SNL went through a down period, they re-structured their staff, replaced all the prime-time players and asked Fred to come back in head-writer capacity ostensibly to help in righting a sinking ship. After 4 years as head writer, the show re-gained some of its old luster and gave Fred a picture deal with Paramount, the parent company of SNL. Since then, Fred has been the key writer or secondary writer in 4 #1-in-the-box-office movies and has been able to satisfy some of his former performance cravings by taking small acting roles in these movies.
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There are more laughs than you might expect in this light-hearted vehicle for the normally dire David Spade. He plays Dickie Roberts, the washed-up former child star who, having missed his real-life childhood, is unable to generate the emotion necessary to clinch a possible movie comeback. To solve the problem, he moves in with an all-American family who, with grim Hollywood inevitability, at first resent his presence then warm to his oddball personality. The screenplay degenerates into schmaltz occasionally — and there’s a pseudo-Oedipal strand to the story that will strike some as subversive and others as plain weird — but Spade creates an unusual character who, despite being self-obsessed, is oddly vulnerable and likeable. If none of that appeals, you can always spend your time spotting the numerous cameo appearances by genuine former child stars (the end credits feature a fantastically gruesome massed choir of them).
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