Bovie Movie

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). 

There are redeeming features to this high-kicking Marvel comic adaptation — not least its strong visuals and attractive cast — but these do not add up to a satisfying whole. As a child, Matt Murdock is blinded by radioactive waste that simultaneously heightens his other senses. He grows up to be a New York lawyer (played by Ben Affleck) who doubles as a nocturnal, leather-clad crime-fighter. As the first instalment of a potential franchise, the film goes through the motions of setting up the story and characters, with the flashbacks to Matt’s boyhood the strongest episode. Thereafter the narrative gets flabby — introducing a soppy love story involving Jennifer Garner of TV’s Alias and a cursory game of cat-and-mouse against Colin Farrell’s poorly sketched villain — and the action is sapped of clarity and subtlety by rushed editing and the relentless heavy metal soundtrack.