BEFORE: Well, I guess I sort of knew what I was doing when I programmed this chain, because all the tribute docs are kind of bunched up here at the front. But then it's another thing entirely to have to WATCH a bunch of films about dead people in a row. I'm just hoping this doesn't become too depressing by the end of the week.
David Letterman carries over again from "Sr."
THE PLOT: A documentary on the life of comedian Chris Farley.
AFTER: I don't mean to belittle the form, but I got a couple films in this vein from broadcast TV, the CW channel was running this on weekend afternoon back in December or January. It was originally made for SpikeTV, which became the Paramount Network, but then I guess the CW aired it during the winter downtime, I guess not a lot of sports were happening that weekend. I guess it was a choice between airing this or reruns of "Gossip Girl".
I'm sure somebody blew the budget on licensing skits from "SNL" but they could really only afford two or three, so they just HAD to get the first "Matt Foley, inspirational speaker" skit and also the one where both Farley and Patrick Swayze are auditioning to be Chippendale dancers. The third, of course, is the famous interview of Paul McCartney where Farley plays a very insecure version of himself and is convinced that he's blowing his big chance to be a talk show host.
Well, if you like those skits, then by all means, check out this doc, but be prepared to see every second of the "Matt Foley" routine at least four times. Somebody got their money's worth, at least. It's almost painful by the end of this film how many times they re-run the same footage - which indicates that they only have so much of it to work with.
They did get a long list of comedians from "SNL" and also co-stars from "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep" to all say essentially the same thing, that Chris Farley was very, very funny. Well, sure, what are they going to do, come all the way across town to sit down for an interview and say that, well, you know, he was only sort of funny? Or only funny at certain times? We know he was funny, that's how he got the gig. But of course they're all sort of conversationally dancing around his addictions to other things besides the applause and the laughter from an audience. Maybe one or two interview subjects brought up alcohol and drug use, the others either didn't want to touch it or were trying to be nice about it.
OK, so this isn't exactly hard-hitting journalism, but come on, that's what killed the guy, right? So we at least need to address it in some fashion. Otherwise we just end up with a puff piece that's too kind by half.
Also starring Christina Applegate (last seen in "The Big Hit"), Tom Arnold (last seen in "Hit and Run"), Dan Aykroyd (last seen in "Loser"), Lorri Bagley (last seen in "The Stepford Wives"), Bo Derek (last seen in "Tommy Boy"), John Farley (last seen in "Jack and Jill"), Kevin Farley, Tom Farley Jr., Pat Finn (last seen in "The Bachelor"). Jon Lovitz (last seen in "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only"), Mike Myers (ditto), Adam Sandler (ditto), David Spade (ditto), Lorne Michaels, Jay Mohr (last seen in "Street Kings"), Bob Odenkirk (last seen in "Nobody"), Bob Saget (last seen in "Mr. Warmth - the Don Rickles Project"), Will Sasso (last seen in "Boss Level"), Molly Shannon (last heard in "Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania"), Brian Stack (last seen in "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop"), Fred Wolf
with archive footage of Chris Farley (last seen in "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only"), Dana Carvey (ditto), Phil Hartman (ditto), Jan Hooks (ditto), Victoria Jackson (ditto), Chris Rock (ditto), John Belushi (last seen in "Respect"), Michelle Burke, Ellen Cleghorne (last seen in "Second Act"), Del Close, Jane Curtin (last seen in "I Don't Know How She Does It"), Brian Dennehy (last seen in "Sly") Ernie Hudson (last seen in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife"), Bill Murray (ditto), Michael Jordan (last seen in "Butterfly in the Sky"), Paul McCartney (last seen in "Elvis"), Tim Meadows (last seen in "The Ladies Man"), Garrett Morris, Kevin Nealon (last seen in "Blended"), Laraine Newman (last seen in "Zappa"), Gilda Radner (last seen in "The Bill Murray Stories"), George Wendt (ditto), Rob Schneider (last seen in "The Wrong Missy"), Christian Slater (last seen in "Unfrosted"), Patrick Swayze (last seen in "My Best Friend's Girl"), Julia Sweeney (last seen in "Whatever It Takes"), Christopher Walken (last seen in "Balls of Fury"),
RATING: 5 out of 10 summers spent at Camp Red Arrow
No comments:
Post a Comment