TOMMY BOY
A film review by Jer Fairall
Copyright 1996 Jer Fairall
(1995) ** Starring Chris Farley, David Spade, Brian Dennehy, Bo Derek, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd Directed By Peter Segal
I know that the critics of America all disagree with me but I think that Chris Farley is pretty funny. He was enjoyable back when Saturday night Live was still watchable and he had a funny cameo in fellow SNL-alumni Adam Sandler's vehicle "Billy Madison" and he is just as amusing in his first starring vehicle "Tommy Boy." The plot is pretty simple. Farley plays Tommy, the clumsy, overweight and dim witted son of the wealthy owner of an automobile company (played nicely Brian Dennehy). When tommy's father has an untimely passing, the company is in danger of slipping out of the families hands and into the posession of two scam artists (Bo Derek and Rob Lowe). So Tommy, with the help of one of the companies ass-kissing employees (smugly played by SNL's David Spade) goes on the road in order to sell enough goods to save the company. The bulk of the movie consists pretty much of things going wrong on the road and Spade getting mad at Farley who is always screwing up somehow. Alot of it seems to be trying to imitate the same formula from the great John Candy/Steve Martin film "Planes Trains and Automobiles." This is not a very hard movie to review. It's pretty much a hit-and-miss comedy. I did enjoy Farley and I especially like the scene where he and Spade end up singing along to the Carpenters shmaltz classic "Superstar." I just wish that the movie hit more than it missed.
Review By Jer Fairall jerfairall@aol.com
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