Black Sheep (1996)

Director:

Penelope Spheeris

Writer (WGA):

Fred Wolf (written by)

Release Date:

2 February 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

There's one in every family.

Plot:

A gubernatorial candidate hires a wormy special assistant whose only job is to make sure the candidate's well-meaning but incompetent brother doesn't ruin the election.

Plot Keywords:

Marijuana | Critically Bashed | Alcoholism | Brother Brother Relationship | Candid Camera

Cast

Chris Farley	...	Mike Donnelly
David Spade	...	Steve Dodds
Tim Matheson	...	Al Donnelly
Christine Ebersole	...	Gov. Tracy
Gary Busey	...	Drake Sabitch
Grant Heslov	...	Robbie Mieghem
Timothy Carhart	...	Roger Kovary
Bruce McGill	...	Neuschwender
Michael Patrick Carter	...	Scott Colleary
Boyd Banks	...	Clyde Spinoza
David St. James	...	Motorcycle Cop
Skip O'Brien	...	State Trooper
Branden R. Morgan	...	Fan
'Gypsy' Spheeris	...	Pocket Pool Lady
John Ashker	...	Jim Blaine

Also Known As:

Black Sheep - Schwarzes Schaf mit weißer Weste (Germany) [de]
Black Sheep - Unkraut verdirbt nicht (Germany) [de]
Mike l'acchiappavoti (Italy) [it]
Mouton noir, Le (Canada: French title) [fr]
Musta lammas (Finland) [fi]
Trapalhões na Política (Portugal) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude language and humor, drug-related material and sexual innuendo.

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Denmark:16 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #33985) | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Buckley, Washington, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Chris Farley uses the same football play with the kids at the youth center -- "32 belly option" -- as he did when he and 'Rob Lowe (I)' went cow-tipping in Tommy Boy (1995).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Mike gets his thumbs "stuck" under the hood, you can see his left hand move before the hood is released.

Quotes:

Governor Tracy: Now you'll have to tell me your name so I know who to make the check out to.
Clyde: My best friends call me Cash.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: The Best of David Spade (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

All Regrets, Chicken Wire, Situation, Nailed

Not as good as TOMMY BOY, but still one of the better comedies from the 1990s!

After the enormous success of TOMMY BOY, it was expected that Chris Farley and David Spade would star in another movie together. What wasn't expected was that the two movies would be so similar. In TOMMY BOY, Richard Hayden (David Spade) must look after the sweet, but clumsy Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley) so he doesn't mess up the family business. In BLACK SHEEP, Steve Dodds (David Spade) is hired by Mike Donnelly's (Chris Farley) brother to look after the sweet, but clumsy Mike so he doesn't mess up an upcoming campaign. While the plots of the two movies aren't exactly identical, they are similar enough to give the feeling that BLACK SHEEP was somewhat rushed into theaters in order to capitalize on the popularity of the duo.

Opening on February 2, 1996, just eleven months after the March 1995 release of TOMMY BOY, BLACK SHEEP received dismal reviews (Gene Siskel said that this was the first film he walked out on in 26 years of reviewing movies). However, the dismal reviews weren't enough to keep audiences away from the theaters and the movie made a decent $32 million, which isn't necessarily a hit, but good nonetheless.

As a major fan of both Chris Farley and David Spade, I find this movie to be one of the funniest comedies from the 1990s. I used to like it even more than I liked TOMMY BOY although I now see that TOMMY BOY is certainly the better movie. Both TOMMY BOY and BLACK SHEEP have some of the most memorable moments in comedy history, though TOMMY BOY has a lot more of them.

Watch TOMMY BOY and BLACK SHEEP back to back and prepare to laugh like you have never laughed before. Chris Farley and David Spade are, in my opinion, the funniest duo ever to appear onscreen. It's a shame they didn't get to make a more movies together before Farley's death.

My rating: ***1/2