I Am Chris Farley (2015), Unrated, ★★★

Chris Farley entertaining the audience and the actors.

I saw this documentary recently and this homage to the late Chris Farley caught my attention because I wanted to know the perspective of family members, friends and fellow colleagues from SNL and films on how Chris Farley was as a person and a comedian. I have seen some of his skits and some of them are the funniest skits I have ever seen on SNL and there was one portion of the documentary that I felt that it was so ironic that it is as more hilarious of an anecdote regarding an SNL sketch I've ever heard than any other documentary. But, this is a fine movie that is not just a tribute but a sole love letter to the greatly respected and talented comedian.

This movie offers many stories and fulfilling compliments about Farley that sometimes the documentary gets carried away with their emotions and not come back to the core of the story which seemingly makes the transitions a bit more awkward in its editing. However, we hear from many people such as Bob Saget, Mike Myers, David Spade, Lorne Michaels, Adam Sandler, Christina Applegate, Tom Arnold, Dan Aykroyd, and some of his family on how much impact and humor he brought into their lives and onto the world. He was improvising, yes, but he was committed in his humorous passion that he seemed like a professional. I mean "he got a degree from Second City and got a Master's from Saturday Night Live" which centered to become one of the great comedians in the movies.

I have seen both Tommy Boy and Black Sheep which both of them co-starred David Spade. The former is funny with a few laugh-out-loud moments which is posted beneath the movie review which is my favorite scene in the whole movie. It is a sales comedy with not much reality into it but there are a few good lessons in the world of professional selling. Black Sheep just treated Farley like one joke that keeps him falling a lot, having a creature on his head and being dragged everywhere. It was not funny.

Unfortunately, fame got into his head and that prevented him to become the big personality that we all loved and he succumbed to drugs at the age of 33. The more I think about the movie, the more bittersweet it becomes to know why such a lovable guy is lost way too soon. Despite its overhyped style and clumsily edited final minutes, the movie, as a whole, is a respect to a guy who has gone through adversity, charisma and professionalism and turned many lives into happy lives with his talents, no matter how farcical or over-the-top he gets. It also makes you want to watch Tommy Boy or some of Billy Madison, a movie that I think is a bit overrated, again. Nevertheless, this is a good documentary that has a soul.

***