Meet Wally Sparks
You can't help but enjoy Meet Wally Sparks, Rodney Dangerfield's long-awaited comeback vehicle. Let's face it: The reason to go is to see a socialite ball getting busted up, fat guys falling on top of people, cleavage being commented upon, penises being pulled off statues to comic effect, wrestlers and a drunk horse wrecking a house, and a fat, uptight southern governor (David Ogden Stiers) huffing around, getting hit in the nutsack, and shouting, "I hate Wally Sparks!" Of course, you get all those things and then some. As always, Dangerfield complements his older-than-the-hills quips with eye-bugging mugging, and, as always, you can't help but root for the big, fat, rubber-faced doofus. The fact that cameos come from a diverse group that includes Bob Saget, Michael Bolton, Ron Jeremy, Sir Mix-a-Lot, and Tony Danza only helps: In real life, they, too, must root for Dangerfield's old-school slapstick as a welcome change of pace from all the boring, plodding, big-budget, self-seriousness that passes for movies these days. It's impossibly dumb and 20 minutes too long, but sitting through Meet Wally Sparks 20 times in succession would be vastly preferable to sitting through The Portrait Of A Lady once.