BLACK SHEEP - REVIEW

After co-starring in Tommy Boy, Chris Farley and David Spade reunited for Black Sheep, which sees the former play the bumbling brother of a politician running for Governor in the state of Washington.

Very much in the same vein as Tommy Boy, the film is essentially just another vehicle for Chris Farley to crash into things and, as a fan of the late comedian's rambunctious slapstick style, that's always suited me just fine. Following a blunder involving crashing a van into a cinema marquee during one of his politician brother's speeches, Mike (Farley) is put under the watch of Steve (Spade) during the campaign. When the opposition decides to frame Mike into destroying his brother's reputation, he and Steve flee to the countryside to lay low. Of course, even out of the way they manage to not only destroy an entire cabin but battle with a bat, roll down cliffs, get sprayed with fire extinguishers and fight against Gary Busey's ex-military kook.

The film then moves to a Mudhoney concert for some reason where Mike hangs out with a reggae band, gets high and delivers one wacky speech before his brother officially asks him to stay out of the way. Finally, Mike and Steve discover a plot to steal votes and try to stop it. The rest of the cast includes Tim Matheson as Mike's brother Al, Christine Ebersole as the corrupt opposing candidate and Timothy Carhart as Al's advisor. The film itself has been criticised for being a little too much like Tommy Boy but I would argue that many Laurel & Hardy films were essentially the same type of thing but they were still mostly very funny. Black Sheep is definitely very entertaining and if you like the Farley/Spade duo then you'll have fun with it for sure.

Black Sheep is pretty silly so it won't appeal to everyone but it's harmless enough and funny enough that, I'd imagine, most people looking for a good comedy would enjoy it.

Likeable farce.