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R: ARCHIVE, S: REVIEWS, D: 02/06/1997,

Meet Wally Sparks

Chances are you've already made Wally's acquaintance. He's Rodney Dangerfield, doing the same tasteless jokes about sex, booze, and infidelity he's done for years. A woman finishes scratching his back and Rodney snaps, "Stick around, I may get jock itch." Funny? Well, you make the call, but don't call it a comeback. Meet Wally Sparks is clearly a vehicle for Rodney to tell his jokes. Problem is, the vehicle's a broken-down pick-up truck, and Dangerfield's too tipsy to keep it on the road. But if you absolutely can't wait another month to see Howard Stern's Private Parts, this may hold you over.

Rodney plays controversial talk-show host Wally Sparks. He's pulled one too many shenanigans in his career, and now his boss (Burt Reynolds) is threatening to take his show off the air -- unless he can clean up his act and for some reason get the governor of Georgia (David Ogden Stiers) on his show. Needless to say, everyone learns that you can't change Rodney, but you can learn to love him.

(Note: director Peter Baldwin has kindly inserted a cameo by "comedian" Bob Saget halfway through the movie as a convenient time to use the bathroom.) At the Copley Place, the Fresh Pond, and the Chestnut Hill and in the suburbs.

-- Mark Bazer