Amazon.com video review:
Before his death, comedian Chris Farley made a pair of
surprisingly successful comedies that teamed him with Saturday Night
Live colleague David Spade. Their relationship in each film was pretty
much the same, but then so was Abbott and Costello's or Laurel and
Hardy's (not that Farley and Spade are in their league). In Tommy Boy,
Farley plays the ne'er-do-well son of a successful auto parts
manufacturer (Brian Dennehy). When Dad drops dead just after marrying a
young new wife, it's up to Tommy (aided by sarcastic bean-counter Spade)
to rescue the company by taking over for his father. Black Sheep
features a slightly different plot: This time, Spade is hired by
Farley's brother (Tim Matheson), a candidate for governor, to keep
Farley (an accident-prone buffoon) out of sight until after the
election. Farley has a likable quality that is exploited by continuous
slapstick centered on his clumsiness, both physically and socially.
--Marshall Fine
Amazon.com video review:
The late Chris Farley teams up with his Saturday Night
Live pal David Spade for this road comedy about a perpetual
screwup, Tommy Callahan Jr. (Farley), who tries to save the
auto-parts store owned by his late father (Brian Dennehy). The
latter's dry-witted number cruncher (Spade) reluctantly joins the
loud, awkward, but well-meaning Tommy in the mission, which is
threatened behind the scenes by his dad's widow (Bo Derek). The film
is sporadically funny, but as with most movies starring TV comics,
some vital energy in the stars seems unnaturally suppressed. Still,
the film is worth a visit if you want to turn off your brain
awhile. --Tom Keogh
