Tommy Boy really isn’t that great of a movie. It has its moments. But they’re few and far between. For the simple fact that the writers tried to take Chris Farley and turn him into an extended version of what he was on Saturday Night Live. But they didn’t realize the primary law of Chris Farley. He’s a spice, not a flavor. You can’t make an entire dish out of oregano. It doesn’t work like that. It’s an addition, not a primary ingredient.
You need to keep Chris Farley in small doses. He’s too intense. He’s not a good actor. He’s meant to be outrageous and over the top. He’s supposed to be out of breath and falling through things. If Chris Farley is calm and quietly doing his lines, he’s not that good of an actor. He plays characters. Outrageous characters. The writers of this movie got it wrong when they tried to use him for this script.
When you see Farley on Saturday Night Live, the characters that he played were always screaming, or running around, or doing prat falls, or something else. In this movie, he has this cute, child-like smile that he’s trying to pull off. Like he’s trying to charm his way through the movie. There are parts that are kind of funny. But for the most part, it’s dull and repetitive.
And Spade wasn’t helping much throughout the movie either. For the straight man of the duo, he just comes across as whiny more than anything else. I can see what he was supposed to add, thanks to his time working with Farley on SNL, he just didn’t do a very good job of it in this movie.
So, honestly, as much as I love Chris Farley, no, there’s really no reason to go see Tommy Boy. It’s not worth it, unless you just want to see it for the reference of saying “I’ve seen Tommy Boy”. Other than that, it’s kind of a waste of time. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of other great movies out there. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…
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