Tommy Boy

Can someone explain this poster? Either Tommy has three arms or Richard has one messed up right arm...

Lorne Michaels in many ways is a genius. He creates this idea called Saturday Night Live, a cultural icon that has brought some of the best comedians to the spotlight. As far as his work on the small screen goes, I can't complain about Lorne Michaels at all.

As for his work on the large screen...

I have to cut the guy a little bit of slack, he didn't write a lot of the movies he's been involved with, but he did produce a lot of them. So while I love movies like Hot Rod, think movies like Baby Mama are alright and absolutely hate movies like Wayne's World. I have to say the guy has some interesting choices one what he decides to produce.

All that being said, there are movies he did strike gold on. And Tommy Boy is one of those movies.

Unlike Wayne's World, Tommy Boy is not based off an SNL sketch, its just an original story about an immature man child who is thrown into responsibility after the untimely death of his father.

The comedy is based off of Chris Farley and David Spade's acting ability and their capability to make you laugh by themselves and not solely on the assumption that you saw and laughed at the individual SNL sketch they were in.

Tommy Boy is in essence a Road Trip movie. Tommy Callaghan (played by Chris Farley) is the heir to a large auto factory, that makes brake pads, on his way back from college in which he spent 7 years getting undergraduate. His father (played by Brian Dennehy) is the best in the business and he intends for his son to take up his mantle when he dies. But that's not gonna happen for a while right?

When Tommy returns home, his father surprises him with the fact that he is getting remarried and Tommy is going to have a new mother (played by Bo Derek) and a new brother (played by Rob Lowe). Unfortunately, his father suddenly has a heart attack, dies, and the factory is in financial trouble. But Tommy volunteers to go on a sales road trip with his father's right hand man, Richard (played by David Spade) in order to sell enough brake pads to pay the bank and save the factory, and the town that depends on it for employment.

Like I said before, the movie's comedy lies in the performances of Chris Farley and David Spade. And they are just down right hilarious. They play them off as these two opposites, Tommy being an immature manchild, and Richard being his professional workaholic, but in their travels together, they have a lot more in common then they think.

I watched this movie when I was sick and I was still laughing my ass off (painfully) at the part where they hit a deer. They both just stand there looking at it and end up bursting into tears. Or when they hear a sappy power ballad on the radio and they both think the other one will think its lame but a scene later they're both singing passionately to it. And those aren't even the funniest parts of the movie!

Unlike Wayne's World, where a lot of the humor is suppose to comes from the fact that they talk like morons and they make reference to a lot of things that were "funny" in the 80s and 90s, Tommy Boy relies on Chris Farley just as a comedic gem.

Its probably been said a billion times before but I truly think the world was robbed at the time of Chris Farley's untimely death. The guy just knew all about comedic timing, he knew how to make people laugh, but at the same time, this movie proves that he's able to be a lovable buffoon.

While I won't say Tommy Boy has the best acting in the world (lets be honest, no comedy ever does) the movie does a good job at making Tommy a good guy with a good heart, regardless of how smart he is and no matter how many times he screws up.

The fact of the matter is you care whether or not he succeeds or fails and that's the whole point right? To be invested in the actions of the protagonist and those he works with? As comedic as this movie is, it does touch on some good themes and the relationship between him and David Spade is really well done as Richard feels closer to Tommy's father since they worked together but feels discarded when Tommy comes back.

Your villains of course, are Rob Lowe (I swear, was he just villain of the year back in the 90s?) and Bo Derek.

The two don't contribute a whole lot to the movie besides being the antagonists of the film and one kind of funny scene where Rob Lowe gets attacked by a guard dog. But honestly, this movie didn't necessarily need to have a "bad guy". This movie could have just been about Tommy and Richard road tripping it, and with the exception of the con that Rob Lowe and Bo Derek are trying to pull on the Callaghan factory, that is basically the movie.

But I think the movie is done well enough that I really liked them in the movie and didn't feel they were useless. They served their purpose and moved out of the way for the real comedy in the film.

Of course, as I've said in all my comedy reviews, Comedy is subjective. I think this movie was piss my pants hilarious, you may think its childish and dumb. That's really up to you.

I went into this a little bit in my review of Wayne's World but the fact of the matter is, Chris Farley's style of comedy is just timeless because Farley has the ability to do physical comedy that is funny whether its the 90s, or 2015. I showed this clip in the Wayne's World review so I won't give it a video again, but its just one of the best scenes of the movie and it shows Farley's talent.

I won't belabour this review any longer. In short, I love this film. Yeah it has problems, like why does the girl fall in love with the baffoon the same way that other chick did in Wayne's World... but for some reason I don't care as much in this film. The fact of the matter is, ten years down the road, people should be talking about this movie, and not Wayne's World. Was that the whole point of this review? Maybe?

What do you think of Tommy Boy? What is your favorite comedy from the 90s? Comment and Discuss Below! Also you can shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 on Twitter and follow me to get updates on movie news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. I wish I could get you a version of the skit Farley is probably best known for "Van Down by the River" but because NBC is really picky about copyrights, I leave you with him doing that bit on Conan back in the 90s. Its almost like Conan never aged. Enjoy!