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This is a fun little movie. Chevy Chase plays Andy Farmer, a sports writer given an advance to pen his first novel in the country. He packs up the wife for their new scenic home, and things start to go south of the luxury life in nature the couple had intended.
Chase does his usual every-man comedy bit here, but he's more streamlined. He isn't over the top like Clark W. Griswold. Here he fits into a story and tone that make Funny Farm a real movie. The editing of Funny Farm is old style, and I really liked that aspect of it. As a scene ends, and a new one tapers in, we get a nice pause for closure, as if turning a page in a book. This is no accident. Director Roy Hill is a capable man for a film like this, and what makes this picture stand apart from any other routine comedy is the skill put to work on this feature.
Everything from the settings and the playful idea of incorporating Norman Rockwell into the design, to the down home feeling of eating at the local diner and jumping out of the way from your drunk and road raged mail man.
I think the direction in this movie is spot on. It really brings out the best of Chevy Chase and his knack for timing, as witnessed in a Christmas Caroling scene where Chase starts a verse out of turn, ending up the lone singer in the room. This is quickly shifted to another line of dialog pushing the story forward, and it's a moment like this that shows confidence. The confidence is the speed of the joke, the obscurance of that joke not to linger too long, and as Farmer's resonate voice is still heard in our own after thought, the humor lands twice as hard.
It's difficult not to like this movie, myself. I revisit it every so often, and always come away appreciating it a little bit more every time. This is easily Chase's best picture, and a seemingly ignored gem from the 1980's.
Funny Farm (1988)
Director: George Roy Hill
Rated: PG
Director: George Roy Hill
Rated: PG
This is a fun little movie. Chevy Chase plays Andy Farmer, a sports writer given an advance to pen his first novel in the country. He packs up the wife for their new scenic home, and things start to go south of the luxury life in nature the couple had intended.
Chase does his usual every-man comedy bit here, but he's more streamlined. He isn't over the top like Clark W. Griswold. Here he fits into a story and tone that make Funny Farm a real movie. The editing of Funny Farm is old style, and I really liked that aspect of it. As a scene ends, and a new one tapers in, we get a nice pause for closure, as if turning a page in a book. This is no accident. Director Roy Hill is a capable man for a film like this, and what makes this picture stand apart from any other routine comedy is the skill put to work on this feature.
Everything from the settings and the playful idea of incorporating Norman Rockwell into the design, to the down home feeling of eating at the local diner and jumping out of the way from your drunk and road raged mail man.
I think the direction in this movie is spot on. It really brings out the best of Chevy Chase and his knack for timing, as witnessed in a Christmas Caroling scene where Chase starts a verse out of turn, ending up the lone singer in the room. This is quickly shifted to another line of dialog pushing the story forward, and it's a moment like this that shows confidence. The confidence is the speed of the joke, the obscurance of that joke not to linger too long, and as Farmer's resonate voice is still heard in our own after thought, the humor lands twice as hard.
It's difficult not to like this movie, myself. I revisit it every so often, and always come away appreciating it a little bit more every time. This is easily Chase's best picture, and a seemingly ignored gem from the 1980's.