Black Sheep would mark the second pairing of Chris Farley and David Spade and would also be the last, but maybe you saw the film the year before when it was called Tommy Boy?
Al Donnelly (Tim Matheson) is running for governor of Washington against incumbent Evelyn Tracy (Christine Ebersole). His brother Mike (Chris Farley) is campaigning hard for his brother. Perhaps a little too hard as the hapless Mike is turning off more voters than he’s bringing in.
Al’s campaign manager Roger (Timothy Carhart) advises him to dump his brother, but Al assigns Steve Dodds (David Spade) to mind his brother in exchange for a spot on Al’s gubernatorial staff. The two still have all sorts of mishaps so they go out to an isolated cabin and run afoul of the militant Drake Sabitch (Gary Busy).
The comedic team of Spade and Farley had scored big with the 1995 Tommy Boy so when 1996 rolled around they had another go round on the ready. This caused Spade to famously quip when asking if anyone had seen Black Sheep that maybe they saw it the first time around when it was called Tommy Boy.
Unfortunately, this would be their last pairing as Farley died of a drug overdose on December 18, 1997. Farley’s star had been in ascension since the box office hit of Beverly Hills Ninja in the same year but his personal demons caught up with him and he died young. Well, isn’t that a downer paragraph for a review about a comedy?
Tommy Boy probably gets the most “funny” by being first and Black Sheep has a rushed feel to it to cash in on the popularity of the first film (as Spade so snarkily quipped). The film was directed by Penelope Spheeris, who helmed Wayne’s World which also featured a Farley cameo, but lightening wasn’t to strike twice for her either. It almost feels old hat, but Farley’s blustery, hammy delivery does still have the power to charm, but in Tommy Boy.
Spade certainly had more to do in the first film and that might account for his wisecrack on Saturday Night Live. Of course, Gary Busey plays crazy as only he can. The film appears to be an excuse for poor Mike to make a disaster of himself. It’s sad because the seeds of a comedic career seemed to be planted with Farley and his untimely death nipped it in the bud.
Black Sheep is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.85:1). There are no special features. This is somewhat sad since they could’ve interviewed Spade about their collaboration or had a tribute to Farley. I guess this black sheep of a Blu-ray was deemed not worthy of such.
Black Sheep is treated just like the familial kind on Blu-ray, pretty much ignored. It’s a retread of Tommy Boy and there are not even any special features to mention. Most of the jokes fall flat, but you might want to watch it just to remember the lovable doofus Chris Farley.
Black Sheep [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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