Sympathy for the Devilish - Movie Review Essay: Bad Influence (1990)

Sympathy for the Devilish
by Jen Johans

It isn't just the video camera that he bought simply because it was on sale. An ardent acquirer of things he doesn't really want or need — such as the fiancé he picked up simply because he didn't want to lose the security blanket of having a girlfriend — Michael is a man whose buyer's remorse includes his whole life.

Far beyond his tentative gait and careful diction, as Michael in Bad Influence, there's a spark of desperation that fills James Spader's eyes from the very first moment he appears onscreen. Delighted and disgusted by chaos in such a way that it's begun eating at his insides, Michael doubles over in pain at the office after he's sabotaged by a coworker jockeying for the same promotion he has his heart set on and his fiance postpones their wedding by a month.

Starting the conversation off by stating she's having second thoughts — as if playing chicken with his true nature — with her seriously long '80s hair weighing her down, Ruth (Marcia Cross) misjudges his look of panic as disappointment and reaffirms her intention to marry the L.A. stock analyst within the year. But it's not the pacification he wants.

Bogged down by WASPish politeness and consumerist yuppie pride, in Michael, we see a man who wants to assert himself but always backs down. Going to a bar to clear his head (if not his stomach), Michael eagerly steps up to play the chivalrous hero for a lovely stranger but the feeling lasts a mere two minutes before his head is pushed down and he finds himself in need of a savior as well.

With the boyfriend of the upset woman Michael bought a drink manhandling the young man and ready to start some static, Rob Lowe's cocksure Alex swoops in and intervenes on his behalf. Not content just to take things right up to the line (the way that the submissive Michael has done all day), Lowe's dominant Alex brandishes a broken beer bottle in his hand, eagerly looking for any excuse to cross it.

Strangers on a beach instead of a train, in Bad Influence, Michael acquires not another object this time but a new magnetic friend in the form of Alex who, like all magnets, attracts as much as we ultimately discover he repels while helping him break bad. Bringing Spader's spark of desperation to the front burner and setting it ablaze like a stick of dynamite, Alex goes from giving Michael advice on how to handle his workplace bully to taking active, radical steps to blow up the unassuming professional's well-ordered life.

Hidden behind one of the charismatic Lowe's megawatt smiles, not to mention a career best performance by the former teen heartthrob, Alex's influence in Influence sends the two into a thrill-seeking life of crime in order to give Michael — at one point hopping up and down like a coked up rabbit on a trampoline — an even greater high.

Unfortunately, as his black sheep older brother Pismo (Christian Clemenson) warns, when you get in bed with the devil, "sooner or later you have to fuck." And that's a realization that Michael comes to way too late, and long after he brings home a randy art gallery patron himself and — with Lowe just one floor away — does just that in a thinly veiled moment of Strangers on a Train or Rope like Hitchcockian homoeroticism. Of course, the fact that his conquest involves a videotape given Spader's breakout role in Steven Soderbergh's groundbreaking 1989 indie smash Sex, Lies, and Videotape is a wonderfully meta layer of intertextuality.

Following up director Curtis Hanson's stellar 1987 Rear Window-esque effort The Bedroom Window, which he also wrote, by the time Bad Influence was released, the filmmaker had discovered the perfect genre niche that would serve him well in future hits such as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, The River Wild, and L.A. Confidential. Hanson's mature yet tongue-in-cheek handling of screenwriter David Koepp's startlingly clever existential allegory of good vs. evil at the start of the 1990s makes Bad Influence the rarest of guilty pleasures. It's a film that's as trashy as it is classy.

Elevated by the sultry, sun-drenched, and shadow filled neo-noir visuals of Paul Thomas Anderson's regular cinematographer Robert Elswit — here in his first of three collaborations with Hanson — as well as the dynamic, fully committed, marquee level turns by its two leads, Bad Influence is a highly compelling adult thriller from the era that churned them out with assembly line efficiency.

Even when Koepp's script pushes things too far towards the terrain of camp as Lowe's character seems to be hosting a game show called "Yuppie Punk'd," the film is filled with some truly masterful sequences that pull us right along. From one scene where Michael discovers that his hand is bloody and doesn't remember why to another where he nervously hides a dead body as a couple (who could discover him at any time) fights nearby, we're right there with the empathetic Spader as we wonder just what it is he might be capable of and what, of course, he might already have done.

Putting us in the dress shoes of our conflicted, morally tested lead, the level to which we hold our breath and try to plot our way out of the men's toxic relationship is a credit to the strength of Koepp's work and foreshadows his future mastering moments like precisely like that in tense thrillers including Jurassic Park and Panic Room.

Daring to subvert audience expectations so that even when we see a game Michael start to make out with a woman at a party, it doesn't appear as though he's fully aroused until he catches Alex from above watching him score, there's a lot going on beneath the surface in a film that could, in other hands, have merely served as fodder for a sleazy Cinemax movie after dark.

A powerful early indicator of the talent involved both in front of and (especially) behind the lens in Hanson, Elswit, and Koepp, Bad remains sophisticated, even when it occasionally succumbs to the basest instincts of a by-the-numbers erotic thriller, including a blink-and-you-missed it denouement.

And while the '90s were a largely hit or miss time for the two leads — particularly Lowe, following his own Sex, Lies, and Videotape scandal at the DNC — it's an absolute treat to see the two desperately try to acquire everything in sight before realizing they're not only desperate but devilishly fucked.

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TV on Blu-ray Review: Killing Kennedy (2013)

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A succinct greatest hits album like compilation of the biggest moments from JFK’s presidency, this made for National Geographic Channel cable movie is based on the eponymous best-selling nonfiction work by Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly and author Martin Dugard.

Using an interesting crisscross timeline device, Killing Kennedy compares and contrasts the final years of the life of both John F. Kennedy (Rob Lowe) and Lee Harvey Oswald (Will Rothhaar), the man who would bring it to an untimely end on November 22, 1963.

But even though it opens with that fateful event, it leaves the conspiracy theories and post-assassination investigative aftermath to others, quickly cutting back four years earlier in time when Oswald traveled to an American embassy in Moscow to renounce his citizenship and defect to the Soviet Union as a Marxist.

An outsider wherever he goes, Oswald is accused of being an American spy in the Minsk radio factory where he works and a Soviet Spy back in the states after the former U.S. Marine gave in and returned home to Dallas, tired of both the cold weather and chilly reception from his Russian coworkers.

However his dedication to the communist cause and Cuba in particular grew stronger than ever as depicted in the film from director Nelson McCormick, which chronicles Oswald’s increasing dissatisfaction with society and alienation from family and friends, including his long-suffering Russian wife Marina (beautifully played by scene-stealer Michelle Trachtenberg).

While Oswald’s storyline is filled with details audiences may not have been as familiar with including a few facts involving how he was caught by police that caught me completely by surprise, needless to say everything in the Kennedy storyline was predictable, given the number of times that JFK’s presidency has been captured on film.

And by now following the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination, JFK has become one of the most documented American presidents in the history of the medium. While his movie star good looks and untimely end are certainly part of his mystique, he was also our first “onscreen president."

From the announcement of his candidacy to when he handily beat Nixon in the televised debates, talked directly to Americans during the U-2 scare and after the assassination when Americans sat glued to their TV sets to watch their beloved leader be laid to rest in a funeral procession worthy of a king, JFK’s most important landmarks were all captured in front of a camera.

Thus while as viewers our over-familiarity with everything from the Bay of Pigs storyline to his final day in Dallas (as evidenced, for example in the much more thorough Thirteen Days and JFK respectively) isn’t the fault of screenwriter Kelly Masterson or anyone involved since they’re working from facts, it’s still hard to do JFK justice in Killing Kennedy’s 87 minute running time.And given the time constraints, this cable movie speeds through the important events like a mix tape on fast forward.

While you only wish that instead of a few new revelatory morsels in this film or that miniseries (from The Kennedys to Parkland etc.), some of these filmmakers would’ve worked together to have crafted one true epic JFK picture instead of multiple mediocre ones, Killing Kennedy’s strength lies in emphasizing what we do not know, as depicted in the plotline of his killer Lee Harvey Oswald.

And even though it’s downright disturbing to follow the events through his eyes, another thing occurred to me while watching this production which is that the Jack Ruby angle has always been one of the most unexplored and overlooked aspects of the case.

Of course Ruby’s involvement has raised all sorts of questions about the likelihood of two “lone gunmen” or if anyone else had put him up to it. And while perhaps the answer is waiting in yet another TV movie or film, Killing Kennedy did score a few extra points for ingenuity by centering a few scenes on and from the point-of-view of Ruby in order to give us a different vantage point in addition to the ones we've always seen time and time again.

Needless to say, there’s no replacing the source material of the book or some of the far more superior biopics that have been made about the Kennedy presidency. Yet while this polished Ridley Scott production may speed by a bit too quickly at times to leave enough of an impact, it’s still above average made-for-basic-cable filmmaking that’s been beautifully transferred to this Fox Blu-ray release, complete with making of featurettes and an Ultraviolet digital copy.

While it definitely made me eager to explore the book to see what other details were unearthed in the authors’ research (despite my distaste for O’Reilly), the film’s homage to Kennedy’s love of the musical Camelot did get me thinking.Perhaps next time, instead of another straightforward docudrama, someone should update and retell Camelot with JFK and Jackie standing in for King Arthur and Lady Guinevere.

And given actress Ginnifer Goodwin’s excellent command as both Jackie in Kennedy and Snow White in Once Upon a Time, Guinevere seems like a natural progression for the talented star, not to mention one less role for the production’s talent agent to cast. Now that’s a Kennedy movie I’d definitely like to see!

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Wayne's World (1992) & Wayne's World 2 (1993)

Introduction

Over the last six months as Paramount Home Entertainment has begun releasing some of their greatest hits onto Blu-ray, it's been fascinating to revisit the works I watched repeatedly while growing up in Midwestern suburbia.

While a majority have held up well despite some dated pop culture references-- one of the things that's always enjoyable about the discs is the current day interviews with the cast and crew as they talk about not just their involvement in a movie but also speculate as to why the film managed to catch on as a beloved contemporary classic.

On the one hand, some are simply stunned and can't venture a likely assumption about the film's universal appeal such as Matthew Broderick who still seems incredibly humbled and awestruck by the life that Ferris Bueller's Day Off has taken on since its mid-80s release. However, when it came time to explore the extras for director Penelope Spheeris' Wayne's World, Mike Myers managed to tap right into not just the central driving force of the two characters in the film but distills his thought into just under a sentence.

What the fictitious Aurora, Illinois heavy metal hand-banging slackers we were first introduced to on Saturday Night Live brought to a filmgoing public was a celebration of real life or as Myers specified, the concept of “no-money fun.”

Wayne's World
(1992)

While they cherish their public access television show they run out of Wayne's parents' basement (since as Myers' Wayne notes, he still lives with his parents “which is both bogus and sad”), the two guys aren't exactly blessed with the wheels provided by Bueller's friend Cameron Frye nor the expensive computer and technological equipment owned by Ferris.

Despite living in an era of video games which they quickly learn as the snake-like TV executive Rob Lowe appears to exploit the show by working out an arrangement to commercialize it as essentially a cheesy version of a thirty minute advertisement for Bryan Doyle-Murray's Noah's Arcade-- our two heroes discover more proactive ways to party.

Whether it's rocking out to Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody” (in a scene repeatedly filmed over the course of a night resulting in major neck and head pain) in the '70s era Pacer shared by the duo that's seemingly owned by Carvey's Garth Algar, filling up on jelly donuts, rescuing their “partied out” friend from being alone and drunk on the sidewalk, or poking gentle fun at authority figures-- the main goal of the two is to have as much fun as possible.



Proving that they “still know how to party” by frequenting the local heavy metal hangout-- it isn't too long into the film before Wayne sees the dynamic, beautiful, confident, and level-headed Cassandra (Tia Carrere) performing onstage with her band Crucial Taunt.

Taking on a Cantonese dialect for her accent, Carrere is a refreshing change of pace for the coming-of-age genre as a beautiful equally fun loving inner-geek at heart who confesses she learned English in “college and the Police Academy movies.”

As Cassandra and Wayne begin a tentative relationship despite Wayne's stalker “psycho hose beast” ex Stacey (Lara Flynn Boyle), Wayne and Garth find themselves facing another coming-of-age obstacle regarding selling out to the man when they blissfully sign a contract serving up the rights for their show to Rob Lowe's scummy yuppie who predictably decides that in addition to their show, Cassandra will be his next acquisition.



Obviously thin on plot-- the novelty of the film was that it managed to transcend the joy of Wayne and Garth from the screen directly to the audience. As acclaimed documentary filmmaker Penelope Spheeris remarked when she took on helming the project as her first feature film, the guys consistently manage to “have a good time, even though their fun arises from very meager beginnings.”

Boredom is a word and a state of mind that doesn't exist in their vocabulary and it's on this level alone that it manages to reach us all since it comes from a very real and identifiable place since as Myers notes both on the Blu-ray and in the production notes, the character of Wayne Campbell was one he'd been playing with since the age of twelve to amuse people at parties.



And of course, his infectious enthusiasm in bringing a sketch character he based on roughly five real people including himself was doubled when he was aligned with his ultimate side-man Dana Carvey's. For the film, Carvey earned the opportunity to finally help flesh out his simple one-dimensional worshiping sycophant from the skit in a feature length film (by of course keeping that same voice he "borrowed" from his his brother as inspiration). Moreover, suddenly, the energy from what could ordinarily have been much too broad in transfer of the late night few minute hit became both relatable and highly successful to fans around the globe-- head-bangers and non-metal enthusiasts alike.

Simply put the characters laugh at the same things we all laugh at on a daily basis-- ridiculing feature filmmaking down to the traditional storytelling structure, talking directly to the camera perpetually, going into fantasy sequences, spoofing pop culture and inventing phrases we've come to take for granted (like “that's what she said” which is probably most famous today for Steve Carrell's over-usage of it on The Office).

And as a writer, I can't help but assume that a great reason the incredibly fresh film still feels so vibrant today is because the screnwriters-- Myers and Bonnie and Terry Turner (who have since worked on other SNL projects like Tommy Boy) were-- much like the director and the stars, all involved in either their first studio project or their first film altogether.

The highest grossing SNL movie based on a skit from the late night series-- incidentally Wayne's World was also SNL mastermind Lorne Michaels' first to be produced by Paramount in his exclusive SNL crossover deal (which resulted in an overwhelming number of misses that are luckily overshadowed by some amazing crossover hits for his talented cast). And I can't help but think that all of these ideas for "no-money" fun or not having a bullseye they specifically needed to hit helped unleash the freshest amount creativity from precisely the right group of people working together at precisely the right period of time.

Listed on Siskel and Ebert's Top 10 list as one of the best films of that particular year and one of the highest grossing and biggest surprised of '92-- it's still a joy to watch today, both for sheer humor and the uplift you feel when watching characters who use genuine friendliness and curiosity to engage strangers (even when pulling their leg) rather than overtly going for a mean or rude approach for shock value. Additionally it's equally intriguing to go back and witness the talent involved firsthand once more when you realize just how underrated and overlooked actors like Carrere and Carvey were, essentially deserving much more work than they ultimately received.



Likewise, for those who've been overly dismayed by Mike Myers' last few forays in the Hollywood system such as The Love Guru and the third Austin Powers sequel, it's nice to go back in time as if we were taking part in one of the Wayne's World magical ending options to witness his overwhelming potential to make us laugh (when he isn't solely fixated on toilet humor) and undeniable charm.

Seeing the film for the first time since its VHS release, obviously for this reviewer, the transfer was a vast improvement. Yet in comparison to other Blu-rays, while there's a noticeable difference in depth perception, the overall picture (most of which was shot extremely quickly to fit into Carvey and Myers' summer time availability in between SNL seasons; and a good portion in poor light) battles a tendency towards some soft and muddied colors that blend into one another.

However, and similar to some of the dated works being transferred to Paramount Blu-ray-- the studio's one consistent Achilles Heel is apparent from the start as the sound mix is uneven with faintly heard conversations and window rattling music as without any augmentation or speaker positioning whatsoever, I had to move the volume dial well past 60 on a stellar quality LCD TV.

Despite this as far as I'm concerned once you balance it out, Wayne's World is well worth the audio tweaking as it still remains one of my absolute favorite comedies and one that's so surprisingly sophisticated and intelligent that it still makes me appreciate the multi-faceted, multi-layered jokes so many years later.

And now when our society is definitely being hit with a need for “no-money fun,” one could do a lot worse than trying to look on the brighter side of inventing your own amusement a la Wayne and Garth instead of simply popping in a shooting video game and taking out your frustration with a computerized body count.

Wayne's World 2
(1993)

As all involved acknowledge, once the '92 original far exceeded Paramount's wildest expectations at the box office, discussion of a sequel quickly followed and the final production rolled out just one year later. Yet despite the one year difference-- as far as the Blu-ray quality goes-- the jump from '92 to '93 is huge. I'm not certain if the difference was merely source based wherein possibly a much better version of the original theatrical print was taken for the transfer but whatever the case the sequel's clarity is sharper than the first one. And admittedly although this could also be due to the difference in budget and shooting style, likewise the sound balance is twice as good right from the start in crystal high definition clarity.



Unfairly, it was maligned as a movie the very existence of which went against the very idea of fighting "the man" and "selling out" that the first one proudly used as a plot point. And while sure enough, the second helping of Wayne's World adds in an over-abundance of celebrities whether they appear in tiny cameos or new supporting roles and follows down familiar territory with more pop culture riffing-- but all that aside, it's still a whole lot of fun.

Whereas the first movie is solid all the way through, Wayne's World 2 can perhaps be best appreciated as as series of intensely funny, wildly freewheeling, sequences that are so unique they help distract from the rushed feel of the work. In fact, sequence-wise, I'd venture to bet that you'd be able to pull out at least six to eight sequences in the sequel that more than top the original... even if the film as a whole never quite reached that bar.



One of those all-too-familiar individuals who still feels they were born a decade or two too late (as I have a strange faux '60s nostalgia myself)-- Myers admits he was possibly creatively foreshadowing the Austin Powers movies with this strangely psychedelic partly Doors-influenced and undoubtedly Woodstock inspired sequel.

Having finally moved out of his parent's basement and rooming with Garth in an old doll factory turned over-sized place, Wayne begins wondering what he should do next with his life. Similar to where we'd last left him working on Wayne's World in their new headquarters and dating Cassandra-- while her career has begun to skyrocket and she spends more time with her smooth producer (Christopher Walken) than Wayne, he goes through an existential crisis. In a weird dream which finds him led out into the desert to chat with the ghost of Jim Morrison by "a weird naked Indian," Wayne decides that the purpose of his life is to put on a concert.



Dubbing it "Waynestock," the guys adhere to Morrison's advice not to be stingy with the roster since "if you book them, they will come." And in trying to seek out the best, Wayne and Garth travel to London to enlist help of a hilarious British wing-nut named Del Preston (the scene stealing Ralph Brown essentially channeling Ozzy Osbourne and Keith Richards among others) and lead their fellow slackers through a wicked course of roadie boot-camp.



In a similar retread of the first movie which found Wayne worried about Rob Lowe's ulterior motives where his girlfriend is concerned, the same plot happens again in this film but it's to greater comedic effect. Long before Wayne partakes in a terrific send-up of dubbed kung fu fight scenes with Cassandra's dad played by James Hong (reason alone to buy the film and unsurprisingly Myers' favorite scene in the film), Christopher Walken ratchets up the intensity as a romantic rival.



Deliciously wicked-- and far similar to those old creepy SAL "Continental" skits-- Walken truly is as Lorne Michaels calls him "a hidden treasure in comedy," nailing lines like "what are you doing here, Wayne?" before dirty dancing with his girl right in front of him, and chasing Wayne and Garth into a gay bar when he catches him spying that results in an impromptu "Y.M.C.A." Village People homage.

However, the film feels at times like it's going through the motions in a few uninspired "skits" that find Wayne and Garth trapped in a car a la Jurassic Park. And aside from the fact that it continues on a good ten minutes too long in its brisk 94 minute running time during a gruelingly long ode to The Graduate (that saves itself with a payoff hinted at earlier and a funny Charlton Heston cameo)-- it's still filled with laughter throughout.

Nicely giving Garth much more to work with-- Carvey manages to steal focus away from the overwhelming beauty of Kim Basinger as her unlikely lover in a film noir retro subplot. Although he still hasn't mastered his confidence problem, we see a much more liberated Garth in this film, as now on his own with Wayne, he's truly relishing in a long overdue sense of freedom while nervously flirting with Kim Basinger at a dry cleaner confesses that he's "sans parents" and "can go to a movie on a school night like that" before he gets the chance to finally go all the way.



Bolstered by nice cameos by Chris Farley (expanding on his brief security guard turn in the first movie as their quick-to-anger manic friend), Kevin Pollack as a strict city official whose glass eye leads to a disastrous conversation wherein the guys say "i" much more than they dream, and of course Drew Barrymore as a sultry Swedish radio station receptionist.

And while it does feel like its glossier than its heavy metal, rougher original as Canadian Kids in the Hall director Steve Surjik replaced Penelope Spheeris and Myers' decision to move it into a more spiritual and philosophical realm was a bold risk that may have cost him some of the franchise's core audience, I applauded the way that suddenly and very subtly the head-bangers grew and changed into men much more than just "a little older and a little wiser."

While they still definitely know how to party, to ask why they needed to party may have been a bit of a jolt but it allowed the film to go into some truly interesting directions-- a few of which while unsuccessful-- I still greatly admire and feel that much like a truly great episode of Saturday Night Live that admittedly does have a few skits that fail, Wayne's World 2 may in fact surpass the first one at least in the sheer number of stand-alone, crazily funny sequences you can easily pull out from that film and watch on their own despite framing them in a shaky narrative structure.

As far out plot-wise as any SNL comedy and one that fails to go through the all-too-familiar paradigm the Lorne Michaels productions would establish in the decade-- both to its peril and its delight-- while it was still sad to see Wayne and Garth go and especially to see Carvey never quite achieve that same success despite his amazing ability at stand-up comedy, I'll never tire of watching the two films back to back for some true good ol' "no-money fun."

Blu-ray Review: Tommy Boy: Holy Schnike Edition (1995)

Driving Onto Blu-ray
12/16/08



DVD Edition
(Already Available)



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What was it about Farley and Spade that made them such an effective comedic duo? Of course, on the surface, there was the classic physical difference of a big guy and a little guy which hearkens back to Laurel and Hardy. And sure enough, it is referenced in some of the behind-the-scenes featurettes including "Tommy Boy: Behind the Laughter" available in this stunning Paramount Home Entertainment Blu-ray edition of director Peter Segal's 1995 film. However, I think at its core the reason we bought Farley and Spade was the level of friendship and affection that the two had for each other in real life.



You can't fake chemistry and although-- due to his physical presence-- he was often compared to John Candy and John Belushi, the gentle naivete and sweetness seemed to easily emanate from Farley (as it does with other SNL stars turned actors Sandler, Carvey, and Ferrell). Yet, when it came to this team-- while at times Farley could go all over the map-- his counterpart had the impeccable ability to bring him back to the right course where they incited giggles in spades (if you forgive a reference to the talented and extremely underrated Mr. Spade).

According to the featurette "Just the Two of Us"-- friends since day one together on SNL where they bonded walking over to the set and in the small office they shared under the tutelage of the man who discovered them-- Lorne Michaels-- no matter how in sync they appeared, part of their success seemed to be as Spade noted in the '95 Paramount press release the fact that "we're two really different people." Whereas, "Chris is a big, loud, obnoxious guy," Spade describes himself as "a whole lot quieter and more low-key," resulting in the "contrast [being] pretty funny."

Or as Farley put it, "It helps too that I love David's sense of humor more than anyone's. He has the ability to find farce in any given situation and narrow in on one point that is really absurb and then blow it up to a huge proportion-- he's so good at that... [we] spend so much time together... that people say we're beginning to look alike."



Offering the men the well-deserved opportunity to branch off from their success on SNL to really carry a feature film, Michaels and his relative newbie director Peter Segal (who has since gone on to direct this year's Get Smart) recount the extremely difficult and lengthy process it took to get the film made.

Originally pitched to Paramount as a story wherein Farley and Rob Lowe would simply play brothers, once Spade was brought in, it was quickly apparent that although Farley and Lowe do in fact play stepbrothers, it's really the dynamic between the two SNL cast members that feels the most authentic and familial. To quote a line that Farley delivers to Lowe early on in the film, "we're family; we're gonna be doing lots of dumb stuff together" and so the cast did with this joyful Planes, Trains, and Automobiles styled romp which takes the traditional straight man and funny man comedic set-up and SNL paradigm of the blue-collar dorky innocent verses the smug, scheming yuppie jerks and made a contemporary comedy favorite.



Although it didn't break any major box office records, what Tommy Boy had-- more than any of the films featuring Spade and Farley in their sadly short lived career working alongside one another-- was staying power and genuinely hysterical scenes that just get funnier with each viewing. Filmed in a breakneck schedule which found them trying to divide their time between Saturday Night Live and the Canadian film set not to mention endless script revisions and incarnations as Segal and screenwriter Fred Wolf revised the original version penned by Coneheads and 3rd Rock from the Sun writers Bonnie and Terry Turner to maximize the humor-- this chaotic production resulted into days where the actors arrived having literally no idea what was going to happen given the incomplete script. Yet despite these overwhelming obstacles which would normally spell disaster, somehow they managed to strike a chord with audiences in the '90s.



As cast member Dan Aykroyd wrote in his dedication to Segal on the poster, he was thankful to have the opportunity to be introduced to the next generation. Using a very familiar plot set-up of a lovable loser who must fight to save his family's business (a la Billy Madison), protect loved ones (a la Happy Gilmore) and stand up to the yuppies (a la Wayne's World), Farley stars as the recent Marquette University graduate who manages to squeak out with a Bachelor's Degree in seven years with the most enthusiastic reception of a D+ grade in film history.



Returning to Sandusky, Ohio to go to work for his father Big Tom's automotive company, Farley's "Tommy Boy" is thrown for a loop when his dad (played by Brian Dennehy who manages to touch us in a few choice scenes) passes away unexpectedly following his whirlwind marriage to the beautiful Beverly (Bo Derek, whose introduction to audiences echoes her famous scene from director Blake Edwards' 10).

In order to prevent the debt-ridden company from going under and save the jobs of literally his entire community whose lives depend on Callahan Auto (especially timely given today's economic crisis with the American auto industry), Farley fast-talks his father's right hand man, Richard Hayden (Spade) into going on the road with him to sell as many brake pads as possible.

In a wild road-trip comedy of misadventures involving unceasing fights, embarrassments, disaster, deer that come back to life, and radio sing-alongs, they finally end up in a major showdown with Aykroyd's auto parts king along with Tommy's stepmom and shady brother-in-law who may have a hidden agenda after all.



With so many quotable lines and hilarious moments that have seeped into our popular culture including "Holy Schikes!", "that's gonna leave a mark," "fat guy in a little coat," and the endless interplay and balance between Farley's surprisingly athletic and dancer like grace (from training both in sports as a child and in ballet at Marquette as his brothers share in "Growing Up Farley") along with Spade's incredibly versatile "verbal and articulate" way with words as Lorne Michaels described in the production notes, it's a film that's always fun to revisit. One of those rainy day movies that's guaranteed to cheer you up or as actresses Julie Warner and Bo Derek share, a film with heart and joy that has brought so much laughter to audiences over the years, it's very eye-opening to finally see it on Blu-ray after so many years of settling for the VHS and endless cable television runs of the film.



Surprisingly beautiful with the fall scenery of gold and yellow leaves, the crystal clear water where Tommy makes a feeble attempt at sailing with his love interest, and their drive throughout the plains of the Midwest-- between our fits of laughter at their antics and endless bad sales pitches-- I'd forgotten just how wonderfully shot it was and could appreciate it (most likely similar to the Midwestern raised Farley and Midwestern born Spade) on that level as well.

Filled with insightful revelations from its talented cast, including Rob Lowe who jokes that originally his Tommy Boy character was "written as a sort of cousin to my character in Wayne's World." Likewise, Lowe still fondly recalls Segal's ability to work as a precise "comedy mathematician" not to mention his admission (which is verified by Spade) that his beauty caused a rift in the relationship of Spade and Farley who literally ended up fighting over their "exclusive" relationship when Spade hung out with Lowe one night without asking his "spouse" along. Filled with lots of great memories and insider details, ultimately the Holy Schnike edition is a love letter to the legacy of not just Farley but the Farley and Spade team, which showed remarkable promise.



While it's bittersweet to watch it on one level as-- behind the laughter (to reference the title of the Blu-ray's best extra)-- we're aware that sadly Farley's life would end much too soon and feel equally torn when we see Spade do his best work alongside his "brother from another mother," the Paramount Blu-ray treatment is a fan's delight.

With director commentary as well as a combination of several dozen deleted and extended scenes and alternate takes, storyboard comparisons, the HD trailer, a photo gallery, and television spots-- the 1080p high definition color is crystal clear with zero artifacting and excellent contrast between the flesh tones and evening scenes and makes the film look even better than it did when it first was released theatrically.



And while I can't guarantee that it'll make you want to sing along to The Carpenters in your convertible unless you have the perfect sidekick, you'll no doubt echo Tommy's favorite sentiment once you hit eject of "That was awesome!!!"

Chris Farley