Fellman's Movie Reviews

Red = Spoilers 

What’s it about? Tommy Callahan barely graduated college after seven years of attending. And after returning back to his hometown of Sandusky Ohio, his father, “Big Tom” Callahan, gives him a job at the family-owned auto parts company that is the backbone of the town. Big Tom then reveals to Tommy that he’s soon getting married to Beverly, a woman that he recently met on a “fat farm” as one of the instructors. She has a son named Paul with whom Tommy tries to create an amicable relationship. However, at the wedding, Big Tom has a heart attack, and ends up dying. After the funeral, the bank has a meeting with the company, telling them that they don’t think it’s going to succeed with Big Tom around. Tommy offers up his shares in the company as collateral if the bank will give him time to sell 500,000 brake pads to prove the new division’s viability. If he succeeds, the bank will give them the loan. Tommy then goes off on a cross-country sales trip with Big Tom’s former cynical and sarcastic assistant, Richard, that Tommy knew from when they were younger. In the meantime, Michelle Brock, also a high school classmate of Tommy, because everybody knows everybody in this town, sees Beverly and Paul kissing at a carnival. Meanwhile, Tommy and Richard are having nothing but bad luck on the road. Tommy’s sales tactics are less than professional, while their antics in the car have left them without a driver’s side door, without a hood, and with a live deer thrashing about in the backseat. After seeing Tommy convince a waitress to serve him chicken wings after the kitchen is closed, Richard tells him that he should use that same ability to sell their brake pads. They quickly start making sales and soon reach their goal. Back in Sandusky, however, Paul sabotages Michelle’s computer causing parts to be either lost or rerouted. Customers see this as an indication of the way that the company is being run and begin to lose faith in Callahan Auto Parts. This then causes the bank to retract their offer to Tommy and sell Callahan Auto to Zalinsky the Auto Parts King. After being unable to get tickets, Tommy and Richard fake their way onto a flight bound for Chicago dressed as flight attendants. Once in Chicago, they run into Zalinsky in an elevator and try to plead their case, but he tells them it’s the name he wants, not the company. And he’s going to buy the company and lay off all the workers. While Tommy and Richard sit on a bench out in front of Zalinsky’s building, Michelle shows up with Paul and Beverly’s police reports. Tommy comes up with a plan to get back into the building. He takes some road flares and tapes them to his chest, making him look like a suicide bomber. He then goes up to the boardroom where Zalinsky is with a camera crew waiting. Tommy uses Zalinsky’s slogan “I am a working man and I care for the working man” to make him promise to keep Callahan Auto open and to buy 500,000 brake pads from them. Michelle then shows Paul’s police records to Zalinsky and that because Beverly was married to Paul when she married Big Tom her marriage was never legal in the first place, so Tommy is the legal owner of Callahan Auto. Tommy then goes back to Sandusky and becomes the president of Callahan Auto with a nice “happily ever after”.  

What’s good? It’s a good buddy comedy. It’s good for a laugh. Farley and Spade have always had good chemistry on camera because they’re such good friends in real life.  

What’s bad? If nothing else, it’s predictable. You can almost see the jokes coming. The writing isn’t the most original. Not that it isn’t funny. It’s just not originally funny… 

The acting? They’re all seasoned actors in this movie. Everybody pretty much knows what they’re doing. I’ve said it before how Farley shouldn’t be a main character in a movie. He gets old pretty quickly. But if that’s what you’re going for, hey, that’s your thing. You can’t deny his ability.  

The effects? Mostly practical and editing basics that most studios in the 90s would’ve been able to put together. Nothing too special. Not a very special effects heavy movie. I think the most special effects in the movie was the deer scene. And even that was looking kind of sketchy.  

Chris Farley the spice. I’ve said this on numerous occasions: Chris Farley is not a leading man. Chris Farley is a flavor. He’s an addition. A spice. You can’t make a meal out of oregano. It’s a fantastic addition to a lot of different things. But you can’t just take a big plate of oregano and serve it up. People won’t like it. Chris Farley is amazing in small doses. IN SMALL DOSES. But his acting style is very forceful, loud, and energetic. It takes a lot just to maintain that energy. To try and make him into a calm, friendly, doormat kind of character really ruins the ability that Farley has to act. You can see it in the restaurant scene when he’s trying to convince the waitress to bring him some chicken wings. He’s really having fun shooting that scene because it’s more to his style of acting. That’s when Tommy the character becomes more to Chris Farley’s acting style.  

He didn’t notice the door was closed? Tommy ran face first into that closed door and he didn’t even notice it was closed? It’s not like it’s hard to see a closed glass door. Nobody cleans big glass doors. And the sun had to be shining on it. He’s just dumb.  

Why didn’t the bus driver stop? The bus driver clearly knew Tommy was running behind the bus. All the other kids were yelling “come on, Tommy!” and “hurry up, Tommy!” The bus driver obviously knew Tommy was trying to catch the bus. He’s a real dick for not stopping and letting him on. 

He’s out of breath because he’s sprinting. He sprinted across literally the entire campus before stopping in the middle that crosswalk area. That’s actually pretty impressive when you think about it. Like, how far did he run before he stopped to take a break? I’m more impressed he didn’t stop sooner. 

Are those two people making out on the sidewalk? Were those two people he passed making out on the sidewalk? I couldn’t tell but it totally looked like they were making out right behind where he was bent over and out of breath.  

Why didn’t the door open when he was yanking on both sides? Why didn’t the door open when he was yanking on both sides of it? And then the other guy comes up next to him and just pulls open the door that Tommy was pulling on? It looked like he was pulling pretty hard there. Was he not pulling hard enough? 

He’s so happy with his answer. When he answers “Herbie” Hancock, he’s so happy with his answer, like he knew he got that one right. Like, that was the one that he was sure about.  

Chris Farley’s really athletic for a big guy. For being a big, fat guy, Chris Farley does a lot of jumping and spinning and flipping and cartwheeling in his acts. Like on Saturday Night Live when he used to do skits with him dancing and things like. He’s actually a very nimble guy. It’s surprising when you see it.  

Why doesn’t his hard hat fit? He’s walking through his dad’s factory, and for some reason, his hard hat doesn’t fit. Out of all the people who would have their own form-fitting hard-hat, you’d think it would be the owner’s son… 

He spent seven years in college. Doctors spend seven years in college. That’s an acceptable reason to spend an additional three years in an academic university. Tommy Callahan just spent seven years in college because he couldn’t pass. That’s a little less prestigious.  

Louis just lets Tommy use a random machine. Tommy asks Louis if he can try that, and Louis just lets him try some random machine that Tommy probably isn’t trained to use? That probably isn’t safe, or even legal, come to think of it. Not to mention a clear safety hazard, as Tommy shoots some car part clear out a factory window. 

How did Rob Lowe see that kid? How did Rob Lowe see that kid making faces at him from inside the bus when he was standing outside? Like he had superhuman detection skills.  

Did that lady not see him throw that milk carton into her stroller? Did that lady not see him drop a carton of milk on to her sleeping baby’s stroller? You would think a doting mother would pay more attention to something like that.  

How many times has Tommy been cow tipping? Tommy seems awfully versed in cow tipping. Is the town THAT small that all he can think of to do is to go around hassling other farmer’s livestock? It also seems kind of mean to the cows, doesn’t it? 

Farley has such a funny way of walking. Chris Farley has this funny way of walking. And it’s not just in this movie. He does it in all of his movies. I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose, or if that’s how he walks naturally, but he kind of digs his head down and walks with elbows out like he’s puffing himself up or something. It’s funny, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it… 

They are kind of chubby. Richard says that Tommy and his father both look kind of chubby in their tuxedos, and they get kind of offended by the remark. But I wouldn’t see why. They do look kind of chubby in their tuxedos. They’re chubby guys. I would’ve said they looked chubby too. 

Saying “I’d like to get some of that” into the camera at a wedding about the bride. The one guy looks directly into the camera and says “I’d like to get some of that” about the bride AT HER WEDDING. And then wants Richard to delete it off the tape. Who does that? I mean, if you were drunk you might have an excuse, but if you were just running your mouth, it’s kind of your own fault, you know? 

Tommy’s end of the boat is sunk down into the water. When Tommy and Michelle are sitting out on the lake, Tommy’s end of the boat is sunk down into the water and Michelle is practically raised up into the air because Tommy is so fat.  

Why do the whores come in when the town goes under? The old lady at the board meeting is talking about “when the town goes under, that’s when the whores come in…” Why do whores immediately come in? Where are these whores coming from all of the sudden? 

Why did they take the deer with them? Why did Tommy and Richard take the deer with them in the first place? If they didn’t take it with them after they hit it, it wouldn’t have woken up in the back seat and destroyed the car in the first place.  

Do they just drive with no door? Are they just constantly driving with no driver’s side door? That seems awfully dangerous… 

Tommy’s personality really changes in the second half. Tommy’s personality really takes a left turn in the second half of the movie. He goes from being the bumbling, goofy comic relief to this confident, witty, well-spoken salesman. It’s a real departure from the character they were developing for the last hour or so.  

Why does Paul have a sniper rifle in his trunk? Is there any reason for Paul to have a sniper rifle in his trunk? Other than he’s a multiple felon, wanted on multiple counts of fraud? That can’t be legal in any capacity. 

Why is that dog chained in the alley? What is that dog doing there, anyway? It doesn’t look like it belongs to anybody. It just looks like some random dog, chained up in a random alleyway.  

Why would any chick get in a car that looked like that? I know, if I were a female hitchhiker, and some car rolled up offering me a ride, and it looked like the car that Tommy and Richard were driving, I wouldn’t get in. Because it looked like they were coming out of some kind of explosion. And that’s not the kind of car you want to get into as a hitchhiker. 

That cop would arrest them if he knew they were leaving their car there. The cop told Richard that he couldn’t park his car there and Richard told him to keep it. That cop would have arrested him if he knew Richard wasn’t coming back for it. He was essentially dumping his car in front of the building and leaving it there.  

Why would he inflate the life preserver? Why would Tommy actually pull the string and inflate the life preserver? If you’re telling yourself “because he’s an idiot”, yes. That is exactly why he did it… 

The wig does look pretty real. In Richard’s defense, the wig does look pretty real. So at least there’s that. Nobody else is saying anything about it.  

You shouldn’t walk into a bank and yell stuff. Walking into a bank and yelling things is never a good idea. Whether you’re planning on robbing it, or whether you’re just looking for information. Walking into a bank and yelling is never a good idea.  

Why would they give him those road flares? When Tommy had the idea to make a flak jacket out of road flares, why did that construction crew give him those road flares? Did he just walk over to them and go “hey guys, can I borrow those road flares for a little bit? I’ll bring them right back. Promise…” 

Why would he take the road flares off? When the reporter found out they actually were road flares and not actual dynamite, why would he take them off? They were his only leverage. Why wouldn’t he leave them on so he could continue to scare the people and make them think he still had dynamite strapped to him? 

Why didn’t Paul just roll off the car? Why did Paul ride that car all the way to the end instead of just rolling off the side of it? It would’ve been much easier than crashing into that wall that he crashed into. 

Is Zalinsky planning on dating her? Is Zalinsky planning on dating Beverly? She literally just tried to defraud his entire company. She’s wanted for numerous counts of fraud across the United States. And he wants to take her out to dinner? Isn’t there some sort of plot hole there? 

Was that guy there when Tommy lost his virginity to that other guy’s daughter? What was that guy doing there when Tommy lost his virginity to that other guy’s daughter? This is a really small town… 

So, yeah. Go and see Tommy Boy. It’s Farley and Spade’s better film. And it stands alone quite well, too. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…