Funny Farm (1988)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

George Roy Hill

Writers:

Jay Cronley (book)
Jeffrey Boam (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 June 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Chevy Chase finds life in the country isn't what it's cracked up to be!

Plot:

When Andy and Elizabeth buy a farm in Vermont, they can't imagine the trouble that awaits them. Andy...

Plot Keywords:

Children's Book | Mailman | Telephone | Testicle | Taxi

Cast

Chevy Chase	...	Andy Farmer
Madolyn Smith Osborne	...	Elizabeth Farmer (as Madolyn Smith)
Kevin O'Morrison	...	Sheriff Ledbetter
Joseph Maher	...	Michael Sinclair
Jack Gilpin	...	Bud Culbertson
Caris Corfman	...	Betsy Culbertson
William Severs	...	Newspaper Editor
Mike Starr	...	Crocker
Glenn Plummer	...	Mickey
William Duell	...	Old Character
Helen Lloyd Breed	...	Old Operator
Kit Le Fever	...	Young Operator (as Le Fevre)
Dakin Matthews	...	Marion Corey Jr.
William Newman	...	Gus Lotterhand
Alice Drummond	...	Mrs. Ethel Dinges

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:PG | USA:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Grafton, Vermont, USA

Company:

Cornelius Productions

Trivia:

The last film directed by George Roy Hill.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the meeting with the lawyers about the divorce, Mrs. Farmer mentions that July is seven months away, meaning it is December. Yet, in the next exterior shot we see the grass is green and the leaves are still on the trees.

Quotes:

Elizabeth Farmer: I'm convinced that our marriage has been one of mutual betrayals. I know it! YOU know it! Even Yellow Dog knows it!
Andy Farmer: I know it and you know it. Yellow Dog doesn't even know what town he's in.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wicked Stepmother (1989)

Overlooked comedy gem

Now, admittedly, I saw this during a period of my life when I believed Chevy Chase could do no wrong but even so, this is one that holds up, and was unfairly lambasted by the critics. From the ads (if you can even remember that far back!) this looked like it was just going to be a "Vacation" rip-off, sort of "The Griswolds Move To the Country." Believe me, the humor in this film is much slyer and more charming than anything in the Vacation pictures (of which the first one was solid, the next two lame). The film is about a sportswriter (Chase) who quits his job in order to move out to the country with his wife (the wonderful Madolyn Smith) and write the Great American Novel. The movie details his gradual come uppance, as he realizes that neither country living nor his talent is all that it's cracked up to be.

The film wonderfully skews the convention of the innocent country rubes moving to the big city and being overwhelmed by its meanness and craziness. Here, it's the cityfolk who move wide-eyed to the country - and are amazed to find there a roll call of crazies, misanthropes, and just plain wierdos. Does this view of country life have any basis in reality? Probably not, but then the film isn't really trying to be a satire but instead a pure lunatic comic fantasy. And it gives us a rich array of supporting characters - from the town sheriff who hasn't yet passed his driving test and so must ride around in cabs, to the owner of an antiques store whose merchandise are all personal. All these characters are priceless, and the film just keeps coming up with more and more of them - until it has created this pleasantly bizarre and warped Otherworld, of a kind that only comedy can truly provide.

Best of all is the way in which Chase and Smith react to all of this and try to make some sense of it. I very clearly say "Chase and Smith" because the film belongs equally to both of them. It had to be billed as a Chevy Chase Comedy, of course, since he's the big star here, but this is no star trip; from the very first, the wife is made an equal partner in the trials and the laughs, and it's the way the two go through their new life together that provides much of the comedy. It also helps take the edge off of the usual Chevy Chase persona: in Funny Farm he's neither glib and disinterested (as in the Fletch movies) nor over the top silly (like in the Vacation movies). He comes across instead like a normal, personable guy who just finds himself caught in insane circumstances.

Finally, the climactic sequence of the film is absolutely priceless - one of the most brilliantly sustained comic set-pieces you'll see in any movie, of any era. Funny Farm is the type of movie which gives you a great time and leaves you with a big, dopey grin on your face after it's all over. Trust me, even if you don't normally like Chevy Chase, you'll love Funny Farm.