FUNNY FARM (1988)

FUNNY FARM is one of those movies where the only thing that keeps the story moving forward is the complete incompetence of the main characters.

New York City newspaper sportswriter Andy Farmer (Chevy Chase) gets a $10,000 advance from a publisher for a novel that he has yet to write. So, with all of that money, he and his kindergarten teacher wife, Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith), quit their jobs, leave the legendary Upper West Side apartment building the Apthorp and move into a beautiful country home in rural Vermont complete with it’s own private duck pond. Who knew that $10,000 could go so far in 1988! Once in Vermont our heroes are in a continual state of confusion and shock about literally everything: issues with the backwoods phone company, the townsfolk are rude, inability to read a menu, the lone mailman is a raging drunk, there’s wildlife and insects in the area around their country home, the local sheriff cannot drive a car, there’s birds in the trees…chirping! It’s like they did zero research about the house or the local community before uprooting their entire lives and moving. As a viewer am I supposed to find this funny? The whole thing stressed me out.

That said, the basic idea of the fish out of water city slickers moving to the country has a ton of potential. Hell, SON IN LAW did it 5 years later and it was funny! In my worthless opinion, the main problem with FUNNY FARM is the director. It’s directed by legendary old Hollywood director George Roy Hill (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, THE STING) and while he’s obviously a talented director, it seems like he (or whoever) wanted to go for a G-rated story with very simplistic humor. Simplistic to the point that I’m not even sure the movie could even really be considered a Comedy. FUNNY FARM…it’s not funny, nor is it a farm.

Also (I’m really not trying to pile on), but Madolyn Smith wasn’t an ideal choice for Chevy’s wife. She wasn’t good as a straight character for the jokes to play off of, she didn’t have any comedic moments of her own, there was very little chemistry between her and Chevy. Like, honestly, I’m not even sure what the point of her entire character was! Just have Chevy be single and maybe flirting with a sexy local!

I don’t know. FUNNY FARM kinda pissed me off because there’s a lot of potential with the basic story idea, but none of those thousands of funny ideas made it to the screen. Watch it if you want, I don’t give a fuck. Or maybe double-feature it with THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER OVER THE SEPTIC TANK for a truly uninspired and unfunny evening.

FLETCH LIVES (1989)

After cashing in at the box office with the first film, the filmmakers decided to drop the appealing BEVERLY HILLS COP vibe and the exciting Los Angeles settings and replace it with our hero Fletch investigating illegal toxic chemical dumping in a dank Louisiana swamp. Yeah, that’s what audiences wanna see: tired ass Deep South racism jokes and toxic waste humor. And, I guess, it was because FLETCH LIVES was the #1 film in America two weeks in a row.

Fletch’s aunt dies and leaves him a “mansion” (in Jerkwater, Louisiana) that’s so rickety and dilapidated that it’d probably fall over if a raccoon farted on it. But, since photography had not been invited yet in 1989, Fletch doesn’t know about the state of the mansion and instead goes there to retire. Once there, in classic movie storytelling fashion, he immediately bones the first woman he sees and is then arrested for her murder when she turns up dead the next morning. Rape humor, KKK jokes, bigoted small town cop comedy, Nazi knee-slappers and hemorrhoid rib-ticklers ensue.

I remember seeing FLETCH LIVES back in 1989 and not being impressed. It's even less impressive now. I was really hoping that upon a re-visit that I’d understand more of the adult-oriented humor and the movie would be funnier. Nope! I did get all the jokes this time around, they're just not funny. That said, I was impressed by the (male heavy) cast, but sadly, the talents of Cleavon Little, R. Lee Ermey, Phil Hartman, Hal Holbrook and Geoffrey Lewis were all wasted here.

Worth a watch, if you're in the mood for a forgettable, lazy rainy afternoon time-waster.

Part 1 - Fletch (1985)
Reboot - Confess, Fletch (2022)