Dbbum's Full Review: Saturday Night Live - Best of Chris Farley
Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie''s plot.
Chris Farley is notably one of the funniest comedic actors to set foot on the set of Saturday Night Live. While his time on the cast was short, the footprints left behind will forever remain legend. There aren't too many overweight guys that turn to psychical comedy to the likes of John Ritter, but Farley managed to throw himself around for laughs with the best of them. Whether he was falling onto tables, running into walls or dancing on stage like a chippendale, the psychical comedy was most prominent. When a sketch didn't call for psychical comedy, Farley was always the loudest most obnoxious actor on stage. The most legendary role of course was the motivational speaker. There's just something unexplainably funny about a sweaty fat man, in a three point stance, yelling and screaming like a maniac.
Chris Farley can be seen along side other great actors such as Adam Sandler, David Spade and Phil Hartman. Some of the most notable sketches on this dvd are the motivational speaker, the chris farley show, the chippendales dancers, the lunch lady song, the japanese game show and one subpar weekend update moment. There are a total of about 12 full length sketches and a handful of quick clips and montages that make up the 60 minute main feature.
The method in which these sketches are shown is disappointing. The overall run time is rather short and only a few of the great Farley sketches are included in their full uncut length. From beginning to end, the main feature is simply a collection of skits and sketches in which Farley appears as the main actor. Other clips and montages are shown where Farley makes a 5 second appearance even though he may have appeared all throughout the sketch. One such example is the sketch where Farley does an interview with different actors, asking them random questions. This sketch is shown in full, but then other sketches are only 5 second clips, for example when Farley's pants fell down and everyone could see his butt crack. It seems like the producer's picked sketches were Farley was on screen the longest, even if they weren't very funny. Ultimately, this choice leaves us viewers wanting more great Farley clips that were somehow excluded from this collection.
In addition to the main feature there are several extras; dress rehearsal, photo gallery, outtakes, television appearances and family album. The photo gallery and family album are merely pictures of Chris Farley and his family. Dress rehearsal and outtakes feature behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live. Actors can be seen fumbling lines, clumsy costume follies and other funny times when all hell breaks lose. Lastly, the television appearances are of Chris Farley on late night talk shows, doing interviews with Leno and performing his usual Matt Foley routine. Unfortunately, we don't get to see much of the real Chris Farley in these interviews because Farley was always nervous and never liked being in the public eye, but at least these interviews are preserved for our amusement.
Overall this is a decent collection that could have been better. Like most of the Saturday Night Live collections, they do a good job of showing the most prominent sketches, but they fail to show all the greatest or funniest possible moments. The motivational speaker, lunch lady song, da bulls superfans discussion and the chippendales dancer sketchers pretty much overwhelm the entire main feature. If you loved those skits then this would be a great dvd to purchase otherwise just rent or borrow from a friend. I rarely come back to watch this dvd because the sketches are so predictable that it's not worth watching that often, but does provide great nostalgic value. Chris Farley is a big fat sweaty man bear and his psychical comedy is the stuff of legends. Even in his movies Black Sheep and Tommy Boy, you can't help but laugh at that big dumb loveable animal. Farley was well aware of his size and used it to his advantage. It's a shame that his personal addictions took his life but we'll always have this collection to remember his career.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
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