Funny Farm 1988

ChevyChase tried his hand at producing with the very underrated screwball comedy "Funny Farm". Its not the best Chase vehicle but maybe his most personal. It operates at his leisurely pace and is full of the romance, slapstick, cleverness and scenic beauty that is found in his best roles (Caddyshack, Vacation). Chase was a tremendous talent who needed particulars to do his best work. The producer's role had to make things much easier for him as an actor as he picked his director, writer and co-stars. But I can't decide if Funny Farm is an almost-classic or a true hidden gem.

Its certainly better than the great but uneven films Nothing But Trouble and Spies Like Us, but does it compare to Fletch or at least Fletch Lives? I prefer it to those actually. Chase is typecast as a lazy, snarky wiseass with a hard-on and lots of dated 80s dad coolness and, while he's excellent at it, I don't know if that was what Chase ever intended. Funny Farm shows Chase in a more realistic, Everyman role. He's very imperfect but never a buffoon or a prick. With a scaled back character, Chase's charm is more warm and his very muted emotionalism is very endearing. This may be his most fleshed out character. He played darker and more sympathetic characters, but this feels like someone you can more easily root for.

Its a simple premise: Chase and his wife (played by the gorgeous and quite subtle Madolyn Smith) move from the city to the country and things don't go as planned. Chase's fans probably expected a really juvenile movie and Chase gives them a few treats, but this is much closer to the sentimentality and family-friendliness of Christmas Vacation than his other films. Totally in-step with the John Hughes comedies of the period, but more sophisticated and less trendy which allows the film to hold up better. The film is full of great character actors and Madolyn Smith is one of the actresses you wish had a bigger career before stepping away from acting. Statuesque and as deadpan as Chevy, he never had a better companion in his romantic roles.

There isn't much more to say as its a fairly soft plot (but not dumb or loose) and it all sails on the execution of the perfectly assembled production. A few laughs could've been bigger than they are and maybe you will miss Chase's one-liners and little boy antics, but I think it stands on its own as a great moment in his career. It helps contextualize Chevy Chase as the Will Ferrell of his day, the coolest SNL hero of his day turned Hollywood leading man who is best remembered for zany sophomoric comedies and some warm-hearted family flicks but had a riskier side that made the occasional mature satire for his artsier fans.