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Tommy Boy: Holy Schnike Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (20th May 2009). |
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The Film
 After the Brat Pack had reached it’s peak and the 80’s were at an end, the actors had to choose new directions, not only because they were getting older, but the times had changed. Once the 90’s came along some of the heroes of the Brat Pack became the villains of the new comedies. Anthony Michael Hall, the iconic Brat Pack nerd, became the jock bully villain in “Edward Scissorhands” (1990), while Rob Lowe became the arch-nemesis of the 90’s cast of "Saturday Night Live" (1975-Present). First he was the evil record producer in “Wayne’s World” (1992) and then the evil step brother in “Tommy Boy” (1995), setting him against Mike Myers and Chris Farley during their rises to fame. His pretty-boy villainy brings another level to the fat guy/skinny guy comedy that Farley and David Spade bring together in a movie that has great nostalgia value to me and actually holds up well. Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley) is the screw-up son of Sandusky, Ohio auto parts manufacturer Tom Callahan Sr. (Brian Dennehy) and just barely managed to graduate college after finally getting a D+ on his history final. Tommy then returns home to Sandusky to a job with his dad’s company that he will one day inherit, only to discover that his father has gotten engaged to Beverly Barish-Burns (Bo Derek), bringing him a new step brother Paul (Rob Lowe). However at Tom and Beverley’s wedding reception, Tom has a sudden and fatal heart attack, leaving the company on Tommy’s sholders with a huge sales trip coming up. Now that his father has died and they need a new set of buyers for a new line of break pads, Tommy embarks on his father’s sales trip across the Midwest with his father’s right hand man and childhood school mate Richard (David Spade) to try and get the company back into shape before the bank seizes it, it fails or gets sold. I was a little worried to see “Tommy Boy” at first since nostalgia films don’t always hold up as well as you would hope, but Farley and Spade’s comedy still hits in many ways and many of the jokes are too classic to ignore. The lasting power of ‘fat guy in a little coat’ speaks volumes and continues to crack me up to this day and has such a comedic hold on my childhood that it would be hard to overlook. Though Spade has yet to make a comedy without Farley, their two films they were in together are good examples of a comedy pairing that could have gone farther if it weren’t for Farley’s untimely death and the all too related death of Spade’s film career. The majority of the film is structured as a road movie and thus mostly banter between Tommy and Richard, with the occasional sales call that features Tommy freaking out, and still holds up fairly well. Again connecting “Wayne’s World” and “Tommy Boy” is the fact that both films were written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, who do a good job of constructing a scenario that not only allows the actors to play towards the characters they are known for, but also giving room for improvisation. Similarly, the directing by Peter Segal is not intrusive onto the characters, giving good placement to get the full effect of the joke, and would probably be his greatest directorial outing when contrasted with some of the other films like “50 First Dates” (2004) and “Anger Management” (2003) during Adam Sandler’s post 90’s not-funny phase (that shows no signs of stopping, though his dramatic outing in “Punch-Drunk Love” (2002) was good). Yet between the writing and directing, it allows so much of the movie to be carried by Spade and Farley it plays to it’s strong points in giving the viewers what they want. Overall, “Tommy Boy” is a solid comedy that holds up over time, good jokes and interaction between Farley and Spade. Again it’s deeply rooted in my childhood conception of comedy, getting referenced by groups of friends as well as making me think of the housekeeping scene every time I stay at a hotel/motel. If you've never seen “Tommy Boy” when you were younger, it’s worth checking out to see just how well it works from the perspective of someone who never saw it, though if you grew up during the 90’s and never saw “Tommy Boy” I have to wonder what else you were watching?
Video
Presented in 1080p 24/fps high-definition in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with AVC MPEG-4 encoding and it definitely looks better than the VHS versions I remember seeing, though based on current standards of video it’s still mediocre in quality. The colors aren’t terribly bright or well restored and the contrast can get a little murky in certain scenes, but this could do with the original production values as well as the transfer itself. It’s not terrible or hurtful to see based on the low quality remembrances of adjusting the tracking on the “Tommy Boy” VHS, but it doesn’t take full advantage of high-definition.
Audio
The audio fares slightly better with it’s English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track, also available are Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. The TrueHD track brings out all of the singing sequences as well as the fairly minimal instrumental scoring that underlies the emotional or sweet spot scenes of the film. The levels all sound fine and there are no pops anywhere in the film, bringing together the film very well considering the time that has passed, but still doesn’t have that same kind of wow that can come with TrueHD audio, again considering both the transfer and the original production values. There are English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.
Extras
This "Holy Schnike Edition" brings together a great collection of extra features including audio commentary, 4 featurettes, 27 deleted scenes/alternate takes/extended scenes, along with storyboard comparisons, TV spots, a gag reel, photo gallery and an HD version of the theatrical trailer. First is the audio commentary with director Peter Segal, who does a good job of loaning some brief facts about the making of the film and working with the actors, though there are an incredible amount of pauses interrupted by him only laughing along with the film. He also seems to take credit for a lot of things that he’s not credited for in the film, such as saying how he wrote certain segments of the movie or how he decided things would be put together, but any relief from the silence are fairly welcome, though he does literally repeat himself a few times throughout the commentary, bringing up the exact same points he made about 20 minutes earlier in the commentary. The first featurette is “‘Tommy Boy:’ Behind The Laughter” which runs for 29 minutes and 8 seconds, functioning as the making of for the film. There’s some interesting talk of how the story itself was developed, including interviews with the Peter Segal, Lorne Michaels, David Spade and other crew members talking in retrospect on the experience in working on the film and getting the production together, bringing in many of the stories and information I would have hoped for in the commentary that never really came through there, as well as showing some great behind-the-scenes footage of Farley and Spade joking around on the set. “Stories from the Side of the Road” runs for 13 minutes and 31 seconds. This featurette talks with writer Fred Wolf mostly about all of the gags and how they made it into the film. There’s some great behind-the-scenes footage again included, bringing together how the jokes that made it into the final version of the film developed as the film went on. A solid featurette that’s a good addendum to the making-of that’s mostly focused on the major gags and jokes in the film, carrying over some of the stories from the making-of and the commentary, but giving more of a focus on the gag itself rather than the film as a whole. “Just the Two of Us” featurette runs for 9 minutes and 46 seconds. Focusing mostly on the chemistry between Spade and Farley, this featurette deals not only with the history of the comedic duo but also their work together on set. There’s some good clips from some on set interviews taken at the time with Farley and Spade, bringing in some of the other cast members to talk about their relationship along with the rest of the crew. There’s a great conversation about Farley and Spade fighting over Rob Lowe on set, another solid clip to help make up for the poor commentary. Finally comes “Growing Up Farley” featurette runs for 7 minutes and 29 seconds and rounds out the set of featurettes, dealing with the two other Farley brothers, John and Kevin, about Chris Farley’s childhood and putting together all sorts of stories about Chris Farley through college and into his film career. A nice featurette considering the absence of Chris from the rest of the featurettes, bringing in some photos and stories about him from everyone who knew him well. Next are the storyboard comparisons, 7 in all, showing a top and bottom split-screen with the storyboards put together for the sequence with the directions and guidelines included next to the drawing. An interesting look at a film that relies more on jokes than directing, but a nice addition none the less. They include: - “Cold Open” runs for 1 minute and 29 seconds. - “Hooks Scene” runs for 1 minute and 11 seconds. - “Car Door” runs for 2 minutes and 24 seconds. - “Moth Motel” runs for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. - “Bees” runs for 2 minutes and 22 seconds. - “Airline Stewards” runs for 1 minute and 33 seconds. - “Airline Bathroom” runs for 1 minute and 52 seconds. Next are the deleted scenes, 6 in all: - “Introduction” runs for 22 seconds, this is simply an introduction from director Peter Segal. - “Faculty Parking Lot” runs for 1 minute and 4 seconds, Tommy Runs through the faculty parking lot trying to get to class, setting off every single car alarm along the way. - “Guard Shack” runs for 54 seconds, the gate guard welcomes Tommy back to his dad’s company plant and congratulates him on his D+. - “Paul and the Puppy” runs for 1 minute and 30 seconds, Paul blow torches a puppy living next door to the Callahan residence, adding a creepier layer to Rob Lowe’s character. - “Water Tower” runs for 1 minute and 29 seconds, Paul falls off a water tower trying to sabotage the Callahan plant. - “Tommy Comes Home” runs for 1 minute and 24 seconds, Tommy comes home from his sales trip while Paul and Beverly try to escape to sell the company. Even more cut scenes follow with 15 extended scenes, they range from full extensions to just adding back in a couple of cut moments or lines from each scene that were likely brought down to just keep the film from getting too long: - “Frat House” runs for 1 minute and 30 seconds, more of Tommy drinking and smoking with his buddies. - “Working on The Guns” runs for 30 seconds, Tommy and Big Tom greet each other a bit longer. - “Lighting hit the Window” runs for 12 seconds, Tommy makes an excuse for flinging the can through the window. - “More hooks” runs for 1 minute and 51 seconds, Tommy fights off the motorized hooks moving through. - “I Feel Free” runs for 23 seconds, one extra line when Tommy gets hosed down. - “Half the Town Works Here” runs for 32 seconds, Tommy sputters for an excuse when he meets Michelle. - “More Wedding Video” runs for 4 minutes and 58 seconds, an expanded look of Big Tom’s wedding featuring more from the band and more from Richard’s tape. - “More Butcher’s Ass” runs for 2 minutes and 9 seconds, Richard and Tommy try to sell more parts. - “Extra Leave A Mark” runs for 15 seconds, a little tiny bit of the Richard/Tommy fight. - “More Chicken Wings” runs for 4 minutes and 30 seconds, more of Tommy trying to convince Helen to get some Chicken Wings. - “Pre-MPAA Jerk Motel” runs for 1 minute and 30 seconds, a longer version of Richard watching the woman by the pool. - “Yes Montage” runs for 1 minute and 35 seconds, more of the montage of Tommy and Richard making sales. - “Everybody Sit Down” runs for 50 seconds, Richard tries to get everyone together as a flight attendant. - “Zalinsky Factory” runs for 1 minute and 7 seconds, more shots inside the Zalinsky factory. - “Reporters in the Lobby” runs for 27 seconds, Tommy gets the attention of the lobby reporters. Next come the 6 alternate takes, featuring more examples of improv by Farley and Spade: - “Hooks Wide Shot” runs for 1 minute and 14 seconds, Tommy convers with the hooks in the background. - “Hooks Close-up” runs for 31 seconds, Tommy fights the hooks again. - “What A Loser” runs for 1 minute and 14 seconds, Tommy walks into a wall. - “Jerk Motel Selects” runs for 1 minute and 36 seconds, Spade improvises some more talk from the window of the Jerk Motel. - “Topless Tommy” runs for 17 seconds, Tommy reveals himself naked for Richard. - “Oh My God” runs for 26 seconds, Tommy is shocked on the airplane. The gag reel runs for 4 minutes and 16 seconds, lots of flubbed lines and making each other laugh on the set, funny moments of Farley goofing around, a little better than the average gag reel considering the actors and the material. The photo gallery contains 50 images, featuring both black and white behind-the-scenes shots as well as press release photos of some of the major actors and crew members on the film. Next are the 19 TV spots that were released to promote the film: - “Foundation” runs for 32 seconds. - “Partnership” runs for 31 seconds. - “New Grade” runs for 31 seconds. - “New Grade Alternate” runs for 31 seconds. - “Them” runs for 32 seconds. - “Bottom Line” runs for 33 seconds. - “Deal” runs for 32 seconds. - “Movers and Shakers” runs for 32 seconds. - “Pair” runs for 32 seconds. - “Road to Success” runs for 16 seconds. - “Deer” runs for 18 seconds. - “Cow Tipping” runs for 16 seconds. - “Boardroom” runs for 17 seconds. - “Funny” runs for 17 seconds. - “Nothing in Their Way” runs for 18 seconds. - “Poolside” runs for 16 seconds. - “Little Partnership – Version 2” runs for 17 seconds. - “Simple Rule”runs for 17 seconds. - “Appointment”17 seconds. Finally the theatrical trailer runs for 2 minutes and 28 seconds.
Overall
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