Tommy Boy

Summary

“Tommy likey…. Tommy want wingy.”

In 1995, Paramount Pictures released the buddy comedy Tommy Boy starring SNL alumni Chris Farley and David Spade. It was an interesting year for Chris Farley, because at the end of the twentieth season of SNL, Chris Farley was fired alongside Adam Sandler and Jay Mohr, while numerous other mainstays of the show such as Kevin Nealon and Mike Myers left the show on their own terms. It was the changing of the guard for SNL. There is no way that Chris Farley could have predicted that the small road-trip comedy he starred in with his pal David Spade would be a hit at the box office (grossing $30 million) and propel Farley forward as a bankable movie star. This film proved to be the best vehicle for Farley out of the few pictures he made prior to his death just two years later at age 33. It is a great showcase for his comedic talents. My family has watched Tommy Boy several times over the years, so I was excited to get to see Paramount’s new 4K release of the picture celebrating it’s thirtieth anniversary.

Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley) has spent the last seven years in college playing rugby, smoking weed, and partying. When he unexpectedly gets a D+ on his final exam, he is able to graduate. Tommy doesn’t have any immediate plans aside from working at his dad’s loading dock at his auto parts factory in Sandusky, Ohio. Arriving back home, an acquaintance from childhood Richard Hayden (David Spade) picks him up from the airport. They drive past a number of closed down auto part manufacturers before arriving at Callahan Auto Parts. Big Tommy Callahan (Brian Dennehy) is planning to take out a large loan to keep the plant running with hopes that one day Tommy will run the place. The loan is for more workforce to make new brake pads that have potential to revolutionize the industry. Big Tom shows Tommy his new corner office at the plant. Tommy is under qualified to say the least, but he is excited to work for his father. At their home, Big Tom introduces Tommy to Beverly (Bo Derek,) his fiancé. They plan to marry that weekend. Beverly has a son named Paul (Rob Lowe,) so Tommy will have a brother. Tommy takes this seriously, and immediately takes Paul cowtipping. They are definitely mismatched. While working at the factory, Tommy bumps into a girl he grew up with named Michelle (Julie Warner.) They exchange pleasantries while she explains how she handles the shipping of orders for the factory. At the wedding, Big Tom gets married to Beverly but then he tragically suffers a fatal heart attack. To save the company, Tommy must hit the road with Richard to sell enough brake pads to keep the company afloat and avoid a hostile takeover by Zalinsky (Dan Aykroyd.) Meanwhile, Beverly and Paul may have their own reasons for wanting Tommy to fail.

Tommy Boy is still an extremely effective and funny comedy thirty years after its release. Watching the picture last night with my two sons, one a teenager and the other a pre-teen, the jokes that had made me laugh out loud still drew the same reaction from my boys. There is a timeless quality to the movie. It is all the more impressive that Tommy Boy turned out as well as it did considering that the script had been through extensive rewrites and was not fully complete before the picture began filming. The movie was also shot while Farley and Spade were both still appearing on SNL, so they had to fly back and forth from Toronto and New York to fulfill their duties. Somehow, everything came together. Director Peter Segal managed to capture the dynamic between Farley and Spade onscreen that was so effective on SNL and the chemistry of the friendship that they shared offstage. Many of the funniest moments in the film came from things that Spade and Farley simply did to make each other laugh such as the “fat guy in a skinny coat” or the “housekeeping” scenes. The film also works because there is a sensitivity to the picture that is more effective than one would expect. I have spoken at length with my big brother (also named Tommy) about this numerous times, but Tommy Boy has one of the saddest montages of all time. I have seen “serious” films that make me less emotional than the moments of Tommy Boy walking around his dad’s plant and reminiscing about him on his sail boat. These moments have only become more emotional in the wake of Chris Farley’s young death (and the more recent death of Brian Dennehy.) There is also something to be said about the well written score by David Newman which handles comedic and dramatic moments effectively.

This was Chris Farley’s best role and the best onscreen version of the actor. He would go on to star in a few other movies, but none of them seemed to encapsulate Farley’s comedic energy like Tommy Boy. The writing was never as sharp. David Spade is great in the picture speaking dry and sarcastic lines at Farley as if he was hosting Hollywood Moment on Weekend Update. Rob Lowe had made his name in the Brat Pack era, but in both Wayne’s World and Tommy Boy he proved himself very capable of being able to make fun of himself. He is really good in the movie. Brian Dennehy only appears onscreen for about ten minutes, but he is completely plausible as Tommy’s father. There is a very believable father-son dynamic between the two actors that works very well. Dan Aykroyd is a lot of fun in the film as the leading auto parts store owner in the country. Bo Derek is similarly well cast. Peter Segal does well with the actors in the picture and keeps the film moving at a brisk pace.

Overall – Tommy Boy is a classic comedy at this point for good reason. It is funny and sweet natured and shows off Chris Farley at the absolute peak of his abilities. The new Paramount 4K is a welcome addition to my film library.

Video

Presented in Native 4K in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, Tommy Boy receives a welcome upgrade with Paramount’s new UHD presentation. The prior Blu-ray release of the film has definitely started to show its age, so Paramount’s decision to do a brand new 4K transfer was applaudable. Like many films from that era, the film stock has a slightly softer look. The cinematography by Victor J. Kemper understands the assignment and consistently achieves the goal of highlighting the comedic moments without becoming distracting. There are some moments that are surprisingly pretty, such as the montage that I mentioned above when Tommy deals with the death of his father that features numerous pretty autumn colors. Grain is well resolved and the HDR brings out the most from the film’s color palette, but it should be noted that this picture is not extremely vibrant. I would bet that this will be the best that Tommy Boy will ever look and I appreciate the noticeable upgrade from the dated Blu-ray.

Audio

Paramount has unfortunately not upgraded Tommy Boy from it’s 2008 Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. A full blown Atmos track would have been appreciated, but it is not totally necessary given that the film only has a couple moments where that track would have shown much force (such as the scene with the deer.) The track is front heavy, and only has light immersion. That said, dialogue is rendered clearly. This is an okay track, but any upgrade would have been appreciated.

Supplements:

4K UHD Disc

• There are no supplements on the 4K disc.

1080 Disc – These features are ported over from the DVD and 2008 Blu-ray release.

• Audio Commentary – Director Peter Segal 
• Featurettes – 
  • Tommy Boy: Behind the Laughter 
  • Stories from the Side of the Road
  • Just the Two of Us
  • Growing Up Farley
•  Storyboard Comparisons
• Deleted and Extended Scenes 
• Alternate Takes
• Gag Reel
• Photo Gallery
• TV Spot

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5 

Audio – 3.5/5

Supplements – 3.5/5

Overall – 4.25/5

Tommy Boy was released thirty years ago and was immediately loved by the audiences that had caught Chris Farley and David Spade on SNL every weekend. The film propelled Farley into movie stardom, and showcased his immense comedic talent and his sweet nature. Sadly, Farley would pass away just a couple years later with only a few film credits to his name. He is a talent that I often think about in terms of being a true loss. If he could have been given some excellent scripts, there would have been no stopping him, because he had excellent comedic energy. Decades later, there has not been anyone that has filled his shoes. Tommy Boy, thanks to solid direction by Peter Segal who oversaw rewrites by Fred Wolf that lasted deep into the filming of the picture, properly showed off David Spade and Chris Farley’s comedic chemistry onscreen. It is the only film that Chris Farley starred in that I feel really captured the actor. It has become a comedy classic and it is a movie that my family and I watch every couple years. New audiences find it just as funny as those of us who saw it thirty years ago. Paramount’s 4K UHD has a great new transfer which is likely as good as the film will ever look, and the bundled Blu-ray houses the special features from the prior release (which are pretty enjoyable.) The audio is a bit disappointing because it relies on 2008’s TrueHD track which was only decent back then. Despite those issues, this release still earns our recommendation based on the strength of the film and the upgraded video.