TOMMY BOY
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Chris Farley, David Spade, Bo Derek, Julie Warner, Brian Dennehy, Dan Aykroyd. Screenplay: Terry Turner & Bonnie Turner. Director: Peter Segal.
If there is a development in recent popular culture more depressing than the degeneration of "Saturday Night Live" into a weekly televised car wreck, it is the proliferation of equally pungent big screen projects featuring current and alumni SNL cast members. These films have primarily been wrong-headed attempts to turn a five minute sketch into a ninety-minute movie (IT'S PAT, CONEHEADS) or self-indulgent star vehicles for annoying stars (OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS, BILLY MADISON). That is why it comes as such a complete shock that TOMMY BOY is funny, and not just sporadically. It is an ideal vehicle for Chris Farley and David Spade that falls flat only when it mistakenly tries to be warm and fuzzy.
Farley plays Thomas "Tommy" Callahan III, a big good-natured doofus who has finally graduated from college after seven years. Fortunately, his dad Big Tom Callahan (Brian Dennehy) owns an auto parts company, and plans to have Tommy Boy follow him in running the family business. That opportunity comes sooner than expected when Big Tom dies on the day of his wedding to Beverly (Bo Derek), leaving behind a business in financial trouble. In an attempt to save Callahan Auto Parts, Tommy goes on the road with Richard Hayden (David Spade), his dad's sarcastic right hand man, to sell Callahan's new state-of-the-art brake pad to retailers. If Tommy Boy can't learn to be a great salesman, Callahan will be sold to a competitor (Dan Aykroyd)--which would suit Beverly and her "son" Paul (an uncredited Rob Lowe) just fine.
What separates TOMMY BOY from other SNL cast projects is that it looks like someone actually sat down and tried to figure out how Chris Farley and David Spade could best be used. It turns out that they are a nearly ideal pairing as a comic team. An hour and a half of nothing but Farley's pratfalls and manic outbursts would have been intolerable; ditto for Spade's snottier-than-thou put-downs. Indeed, both of their comic personae are very individual tastes, and those who are irritated by either or both of them might not find much to like in TOMMY BOY. But for some reason, Farley and Spade complement each other very well: Farley does something really stupid, and Spade makes an acerbic comment. That's the basic formula, repeated with variations on the content and context. And most of the time, it's good for a solid laugh.
That is largely because screenwriters Terry and Bonnie Turner (THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE) come up with some inspired situations within the routine plot. There are a few hilarious scenes of Farley and Spade bonding over cheesy songs on the radio, including The Carpenters' "Superstar" and the Spanish language ballad "Eres Tu." Another highlight has the portly Farley trying to change clothes in an airplane restroom, cleverly directed by Peter Segal (NAKED GUN 33-1/3). Sure there are more than a few clunkers, as well as a completely unnecessary and un-funny scene centered around masturbation, but far more of the jokes are dead on.
TOMMY BOY's biggest lapses come when silly plot contrivances draw the focus away from the two stars. There is an obligatory romantic interest for Farley in the woefully under-used Julie Warner as a spunky employee at Callahan's, but it is about as tacked-on as a sub-plot could be. Farley's villainous step-family is also pretty boring for the most part, although it is a kick to see Bo Derek again after over a decade, and Rob Lowe may have discovered a new career as a camp villain after this film and the first WAYNE'S WORLD. The attempts to play up the close relationship between Tommy Boy and his father are also well-intentioned but distracting. Basically, any time the makers of TOMMY BOY try too hard to be anything but funny, it doesn't work. When they try to be funny, it does. The current writing crew of "Saturday Night Live" might consider giving TOMMY BOY a good look. They could stand to learn a thing or two.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 auto parts: 7.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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