Following so closely on the heels of Tommy Boy that audiences had little time to breathe, Black Sheep tried to cram another heaping serving of the Chris Farley and David Spade buddy comedy down our throats. The forced second serving however, never comes close to the tasty comedy morsels of its predecessor. Instead we get stale jokes, ineffective slapstick and a plot that’s so horribly half-assed it’s surprising Black Sheep was made as a movie instead of a series of 25 vignettes. What really shears all the comedic fluff off the back of Black Sheep is the poorly used chemistry of Spade and Farley. The formula that produced the ever-classic lines “Shut-up, Richard”, “Niner? Did I hear a niner in there?” and “You’re brain has a thick candy shell” gets left by the wayside in favor of a far-too cohesive friendship based more out of mutual distraction than disgust.
Mike Donnelly (Farley) has proven himself a liability to the gubernatorial campaign of his brother Al (Tim Matheson). In order to get Mike out of the spotlight, where he can’t do the campaign anymore damage, Steve Dodds (Spade) volunteers to whisk him away into the wilderness where the two numbskulls encounter all sorts of colorful characters and zany situations. Up against bats, rednecks, forces of nature and a lunatic (Gary Busey), Mike and Steve do their best to survive the great outdoors. It’s for this reason that Black Sheep could just as easily have been structured without any plot whatsoever. When each bit is nothing more than Chris Farley screaming frantically, rolling down a hill or making erratic motions with his arms, what plot is necessary? If the audience is actually enjoying that, any plot you can think of is just wasted on such simple souls.
We like to remember Chris Farley fondly for his roles in the few decent movies he put out and his stint on Saturday Night Live – but movies like Black Sheep make it hard to respect the dead. Chris Farley shouldn’t have been so quick to jump onto the Farley & Spade rehash bandwagon. Yes, yelling until your face goes red has its comedic element, but it’s not enough to fuel a feature film. That’s where David Spade would typically come in. But in Black Sheep, David Spade’s character wasn’t a foil to Farley’s fool, he was just a co-fool. Spade’s pairing with Farley only works when Spade is spiking sarcastic barbs in Farley’s direction for each and every stupid thing the fat man says. In Black Sheep, that pattern broke. Spade just added to the stupidity. And there’s a good reason why.
Fred Wolf can’t write comedic films. Each and every effort has met with resounding failure (Dirty Work, Strange Wilderness, Joe Dirt and Without a Paddle). His entire screenwriting filmography is a monument to comedic failure. Unlike Tommy Boy, which had the scribes of the two Wayne’s World’s and Coneheads, Black Sheep was doomed by its own inbred pedigree. Fred Wolf has no business writing comedy – at some point this will become clear, until then we have this brand new transfer of Black Sheep to Blu-ray to remind us. Nothing says quality like failed comedy in high-definition.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
None at all. I guess we should be thankful.
Unless you’re trying to build that Chris Farley collection up on Blu-ray, there’s no conceivable reason you would buy this product. Just don’t.
"Black Sheep" is on sale May 12, 2009 and is rated PG13. Comedy. Directed by Penelope Spheeris. Written by Fred Wolf. Starring Chris Farley, David Spade, Gary Busey, Tim Matheson.
