Funny Farm (1988)

This movie is a wonderful comedy that unfortunately has been lump in with other films of Chevy Chase and other SNL alumni. The premise is very simple, Chase and his wife, the wonderful Madolyn Smith, are city dwellers who moved to the country where they find life to be filled with misadventure. They also find that their new town is filled with rather eccentric people and curious cuisines. The script is smarter than typical SNL alumni comedy, the cinematography and the pacing of the movie is right on the money. If there is one major shortcoming it is the casting of Chevy Chase. James Stewart in "Mr Hobbs takes a Vacation" hit the right notes for this type of character, an average man somewhat overwhelmed by his new and foreign environment, but Mr. Chase does not. It doesn't help that many of Mr. Chase's earlier characters were smart alecks surrounded by dullards. Here it's the opposite. Fans of Mr. Chase will not like this because he's not playing the character he's known for playing. Non fans will simply think a better actor who can play the average guy like Tom Hanks or Robert Hays (who was still somewhat well known at the time) would have made the movie much better.

Fmovies: I think this movie has some classic lines by Chevy Chase and the town people, why this movie doesnt get talked about more, i dont know, i happened to laugh my head off at it, but of course i love chevy chase in about everything but invisible man and cops and robbersons

This is my favorite Chevy Chase film for several reasons. Here they are: 1.) I love the scenery in the movie--Vermont, four distinct seasons, gorgeous Cape Cod house. 2.) I love and can totally relate to the story line. When I first saw this movie, I was in college and playing tennis on the tennis team. We traveled to a city where EVERYTHING went wrong--and, the people were just plain weird. I saw this movie, and I totally empathized with Andrew and Elizabeth Farmer! 3.) The humor in this movie is not over the top as it is with some of Chevy Chase's other films--everything is believable, and it's all very funny. 4.) I want a yellow dog!!! The yellow labrador in this movie will make you want one of your own! My only complaint with this film: The DVD version is not in Widescreen, and there are no special features. But, for $5.88 in the Wal-Mart cheap bin, YOU CANNOT GO WRONG. This is an excellent movie to watch over and over again.

Funny Farm fmovies. Not only one of the funniest Chevy Chase films, but one of the funniest comedies of the 80s in general. I don't get all the negatives posted here--this movie is laugh-out-loud funny and very underrated. The townspeople are hilarious and the whole sequence at the end where Chevy and his wife are paying people to be on their best behavior, creating a "Norman Rockwell" portrait of small-town life so they can sell their house, is among the most inspired and funny sequences ever. The whole battle of the sexes between Chevy and wife Madolyn Smith (whatever happened to her? she's beautiful and has great comic timing) when she's successful writing a children's book, while he can't get his crime novel off the ground, is more classic material. Goodness knows Chase didn't get very many chances to shine--besides Caddyshack and the original Vacation, this is probably his best work.

Chevy Chase is normally associated with the Caddyshack, Fletch and Vacation series meaning that his one-shot movies mostly fall by the wayside. Films like Spies Like Us, Nothing But Trouble and Funny Farm have went largely unseen since the advent of DVD in 1997. Neither of these movies have received widescreen releases and have been out of print for years. I was beginning to wonder what Warner had against giving them definitive releases until I discovered an HD master of Funny Farm on the PlayStation Network.

I saw it only once, when I was about 9, and remembered very little. If you're a fan of Clark Griswold then Andy Farmer isn't too far removed. Andy is a sports journalist who retires from the big city to the Redbud, Vermont hoping to enjoy and idyllic, peaceful life and finally write the great, American novel (The Big Heist). When he gets there he and his wife discover that almost everyone and everything is weirder than the last. There are giant snakes in their pond, a dead body buried in their garden, a Sheriff who can't drive, a crazy mailman and a town who basically hate them. And top of all this Andy has severe writer's block while his wife manages to churn out a successful children's novel without really trying.

With careful, measured direction from George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy, The Sting) Funny Farm, based on a novel by Jay Cronley, manages to be a little classier than Chase's usual fare. This makes the lack of a home video version even more puzzling. It has never been released on DVD in the UK, and the 1989 VHS is long gone. If you have access to the PlayStation Network then go for it. I have a funny feeling that Funny Farm and Spies Like Us will probably be released as a Warner Blu Ray Double Feature in the near future, but nothing has been announced so far.

Don't let the mistreatment of this film put you off, it lives up to it's title and is the perfect vehicle for Chevy Chase and his goofy humour.

This is one of the best Chevy Chase comedies there is. The script in intelligent, his co star, Madolyn Smith, is wonderful and she and Chase have fantastic chemistry. The plot involves Andy and Elizabeth Farmer (get it?) who move from the city to small town Vermont so that he can write a book. They plan to start a family, but first, they have to get used to the eccentric people they are surrounded by. I have watched this movie at least a dozen times, and I still laugh out loud. We just bought the DVD (had the VHS but sold it a while back), and we're having fun introducing this hilarious movie to our kids. They love it too! This is a great, funny, sweet little film that more people should see.