Review of Tommy Boy (1995) by Ben L — 06 Mar 2012

Chris Farley's humor is probably what certain people might call an acquired taste. His movies are filled with a lot of physical comedy, which some people might dislike.Then he would add to that a whole ton of self-deprecating humor. He is loud, often goes way over the top with the jokes, and can come off as a complete moron. Now his regular sidekick for these films, David Spade, is meant to be the level-headed comedian who lends some sanity to the typhoon of chaos that is Chris Farley. While in some of their movies this combo doesn't exactly work, somehow Tommy Boy was a success.

Part of the magic of Tommy Boy is the story. I've heard it suggested this movie was almost an adaptation of Hamlet. While this seems a bit crazy, you can see how it would be good, even if the similarities were only superficial. Amazingly, even though this film is over-the-top as far as comedy, they actually are successful at pulling off some strong emotions (sorrow about death, and even a mild romance.) The ticking clock is built into the plot, so the pace of the film never slows down which is great. But the comedy is what keeps this movie rolling. I was amazed at how funny I found this film, despite the constant journeys into the toilet to get some cheap laughs.

The only big downside to this movie are some of the random scenes that they clearly added just for some cheap laughs. It's like they were sitting in a script room and someone said "wouldn't it be funny for Chris to do that presentation which stewardesses put on before a flight?" And then it became a mission to find a way to work this into the plot. These scenes are quite funny, but it feels like the overall plot arc is frozen briefly so they can fit this little sideshow in. So I'm a little puzzled by the whole thing. While I love the comedic moments, I wish they were actually essential to the plot instead of superfluous. In the long run this is a movie that never fails to make me laugh a ton, I just wish more of the Farley-Spade movies were this good.