Meet Wally Sparks (1997)

Director: Peter Baldwin

Starring: Rodney Dangerfield, Debi Mazar, David Ogden Stiers, Burt Reynolds, Cindy Williams, Rita McKenzie, Lisa Thornhill, Mark L. Taylor, Gilbert Gottfried, Tony Danza, Karen Duffy, Eamonn Roche, Sir Mix a Lot, Michael Weatherly, Julia Sweeney, Ron Jeremy, George Wallace, Michael Bolton, Bob Saget, Lewis Arquette, Lesley-Anne Down, Tim Allen, George Hamilton, Jay Leno, John Henson, Sally Jessy Raphael, Geraldo Rivera, Roseanne Barr, Jerry Springer, Morton Downey Jr., Michael Rooker

More info: IMDb

Tagline: He's a menace to High Society.

Plot: Rodney Dangerfield plays an outrageous television talk show host who gets a network ultimatum to change his act. He responds by seeking an interview with Georgia's governor (Stiers) and uncovers a hidden scandal.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

After watching BACK TO SCHOOL (1986) the other day for the millionth time it got me in the mood for more Rodney Dangerfield and I knew which movie it'd be, too, after watching Burt Reynolds again in BREAKING IN (1989) and going through his credits.  This movie is fucking hilarious.  It's the same Rodney we know and love and he's funny as shit.

 

If you're not a fan of his then stay away.  You won't like it.  There are TONS of great cameos.  The statue penis at the party scene was fucking classic and so was Rodney getting the ladies drunk and having a ball on the piano.

It's nice seeing Debi Mazar in a starring role, too.  There's only one problem, it's too fucking long.  The Alan Miller (Roche, playing the assistant to Burt Reynolds' Lenny Spencer, the head of the TV network or something big) side plot to derail Wally from succeeding should have been cut entirely.  It added nothing but painful slapstick bits that were too long and not funny.  Not only that, nothing that character did had any effect on the main story.  Nothing!  Excising that story line would have shaved 15 minutes from the bloated 105 minute picture.  This flick has got a tremendous amount of laughs for us Rodney fans.  I'm embarrassed that I never gave any of his last 9 films a chance until now.  I'm sold and I'll get around to the others sooner than later. This isn't going to be a classic to stand close to CADDYSHACK (1980) or BACK TO SCHOOL but it's a home run and any good Rodney Dangerfield is GREAT Rodney Dangerfield in my book.