Will DiGravio
The Catholic Church defines a miracle as “a sign or wonder such as a healing, or control of nature, which can only be attributed to divine power.” What Chris Farley, a couple millennia or so after the birth of Christ, does with the script of Tommy Boy could only be described as such. It is not just that he turns horribly mean, clichéd water into the finest of comedy wine, but that he himself comes to control nearly every beat of the plot, giving a performance equally hilarious and devastating.
In 1995, the year of the film’s release, Farley was at the apex of his fame. It was the same year he left Saturday Night Live, where he had distinguished himself as an unrelenting force of comedy. His films roles to this point had been mostly supporting his SNL brethren: He made his film debut as “Security Guard” in Wayne’s World (1992), and then as “Milton” for Wayne’s World 2 (1993), popped up in Coneheads (1993) and Airheads (1994), and made a cameo in Billy Madison (1994). But it was with Tommy Boy that Farley finally got a full chance at movie stardom, paired up with his SNL officemate, David Spade.
Farley and Spade were the 1990s incarnation of the great comedy duos that stretched back to the days of vaudeville. The beats of their act, freshly adapted for the big screen in Tommy Boy, have the rhythms of Martin and Lewis: the smooth guy often trying to make something of himself in this world, and the high-energy goofball who, by the film’s end, turns out to be the hero needed all along. Farley and Spade never reached the on screen comedy heights of Martin and Lewis, but of course, they never really got the chance.
To watch Farley bound out during live performances (like he did with David Letterman, for example) is what I always imagined it was like to see Lewis at the Copacabana, where he would dart out from the crowd to meet Martin on stage as if shot from a cannon. And just like Lewis, Farley could be devastating when delivering a more subdued performance, as he does in Tommy Boy, in which he must save the family company after the unexpected death of his father, “Big Tom,” played by the great Brian Dennehy.
The plot of Tommy Boy is endlessly familiar. Tommy Callahan (Farley) returns home after barely graduating from college, ready to take on an executive position at his family’s highly successful business, Callahan Auto. Upon his return, he meets Richard Hayden (Spade), a young gun in the auto parts game who works for Tommy’s father. Unlike Tommy, Richard knows the ins and outs of the business. But when Big Tom dies, Tommy must go out on the road to convince the company’s buyers to not abandon them. Plus, when he’s on the road, his father’s widow (Bo Derek) and boyfriend (Rob Lowe) are trying to sell the company out from under him to the auto parts king, Ray Zalinsky (Dan Aykroyd).
The basics of the plot are so unoriginal that one can even find a Martin and Lewis film of a similar ilk. That’s My Boy (1951) features Lewis as the nerdy son of business tycoon Jarring Jack Jackson (Eddie Mayehoff). Jarring Jack dreams of his son, Junior, going to his alma mater and continuing the family football tradition; Junior only wants to take care of animals. But Jarring Jack insists his son enroll and join the football team. To make his dream happen, he promises to pay for the education of Bill Baker (Martin), the star of the high school football team and son to one of Jarring Jack’s employees, should Baker agree to coach him. It is one of the duo’s greatest films, as it makes room for both their physical comedy and chemistry, and deeper questions about the relationship between fathers and sons, growing older, and privilege.
The same is true for Tommy Boy, which blends elements of That’s My Boy with the buddy road trip comedy. The perfectly cast Spade is, at first, rightly frustrated with and by the privileged Tommy, who not only knows nothing, but has never had to know anything. To compensate, he takes to making fun of Tommy, including a barrage of jokes about his weight that, beyond feeling dated, are tiresome to hear again and again. Similarly, many of the film’s most embarrassing moments in some way have to do with Farley’s physique.
To watch the film now is to be reminded of the words of Farley’s friends Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel, who in recent years have discussed Farley’s pain at such depictions, as always being the “fat guy.” But great artists like Farley do not relent. Instead, despite the proverbial arrows sticking out from his back, Farley keeps moving, absorbing the low-hanging fruit of the script and using it to fuel a performance brimming with humanity.
Just as Tommy is burdened by the loss of his father, so too Farley at times seems burdened by the script’s meanness, of (perhaps) the way it validated the way he felt offscreen. The uncomfortably mean barbs, however, only come to highlight the strengths of his performance, as he soldiers on, playing a fictional character having to presumably deal with real life pain. His sincerity throughout the film, even in the face of such meanness, is what resonates most from an otherwise goofy, poorly structured film.
Think of the scene between Tommy and Richard at a roadside dinner. The two have reached a low point and have not yet become friends. All Tommy wants are some chicken wings, but the waitress, Helen (Maria Vacratsis) informs him that the kitchen is closed until dinner. It seems unlikely she will relent. But Tommy persists. He opens up, telling her why he sucks as a salesman.
Crumpling up a piece of bread, Tommy screams, “I killed my sale!” But he continues, pivoting away from his goofy, over-the-top cadence: “But that’s when people like us have got to forge ahead, Helen. Am I right?”
“God you’re sick,” Helen replies, before agreeing to open back up the kitchen. His humanity wins the day, at least before he converts back to the total goofball: “Tommy want wingy!”In Tommy Boy, Tommy refuses to accept the status quo, opting instead to set out to change the world around him, and better himself in the process. It’s a familiar tale, but it’s a hell of a lot better when Chris Farley tells it.
“Tommy Boy” is streaming on PlutoTV.
