Black Sheep: A Review

            I only try to review things I feel passionately about.  I chose not to review Split because it was good but didn't blow me away.  What I'm reviewing today is not something I felt incredibly strong about, but I am reviewing for other reasons.  I realized that few people my age have probably heard of this film so I thought it would be interesting to make someone aware of its existence.  So, today I'm talking about the movie Black Sheep.

            Basically, the film stars Chris Farley and David Spade.  Farley is the doofus brother of a prominent Washington State politician who is running for Governor.  However, Farley keeps making ridiculous mistakes that the media eats up which keeps on embarrassing his brother.  As a result, David Spade is sent by the campaign to keep Farley out of the limelight.  The rest of the film follows Farley and Spade as they try to win votes.

            Farley is easily the biggest (no pun intended) part of the film.  He is the main character of the film and it is his character's story.  In many parts, he does a lot of yelling and is really over the top.  In some cases it works, but in others it can be kind of annoying.  Most of that though is the fault of the writing as the jokes don't always hit.

            However, Farley does still turn in a good performance.  His character might have been unlikeable if he had been more aware of how bad his mistakes are.  However, Farley portrays the character as very innocent and good natured which makes him more sympathetic and forgivable.  Farley's acting makes the character more enjoyable and believable.  Without a doubt, he did elevate the film.

            Spade played a decent straight man.  He's easily the most believable in the film as clearly he is only hanging out with Farley as he hopes this will get him a job in the governor's administration.  For the most part, a lot of crap happens to him and he responds to it well.  He contrasts Farley well as being more cynical and grounded in reality.  The two do make a good pair which makes it all the sadder they are no longer able to make films.

            The last highlight of the film is Gary Busey.  He plays a crazy former soldier who keeps interjecting himself in Spade's life.  He is delightfully over the top in every scene he is in as he plays a wacky side character very well.  Every scene he is in is pretty funny as he chews the scenery around him.  I'm not going to say he's the best part, but he is the only thing that is consistently funny.

            The most important element, however, is the comedy.  It's mostly hit or miss.  A lot of the jokes are predictable which makes it hard to laugh.  The film really shines though at some of the crazier moments like Farley and Spade going to the Governor's inauguration.  Overall, sometimes I was laughing hard and other times I thought the scene wasn't as funny as the film intended.

            In conclusion, I can't recommend this film.  I did enjoy it okay, but it didn't make me feel like it was necessary.  The performances made some of it better, but some jokes just didn't work.  The film's kind of like a watered down Tommy Boy so I would suggest watching that instead.  However, if you do watch it, you won't regret it,

            Before I go, I'll say the film did resonate with me more than expected for personal reasons.  I tend to find Happy Gilmore as funny as I do in part because I come from a family of golfers and therefore relate to the sport quite well.  I have been on several campaigns so I do relate to the situation the characters find themselves in throughout the story.  There are times when, like Farley, I've been overly enthusiastic about being on a campaign despite that not making a difference, and there are times, like Spade, I'm doing crap I don't want to do or spending time with people I don't want to be with because it has to be done and I hope it will pay off.  Overall, it does connect to me through campaigns, even if it's not too in depth about politics.  So I will admit that was nice.

Patriot Day: A Review

           Tonight I went to see Patriot Day with my mother.  I rarely go to see films in January since they usually suck (Bye-Bye Man anyone?), but this was made by the guy who did Deepwater Horizon which was fantastic.  In short, the film was fantastic and I highly recommend it.  However, I am going to go a bit more into detail about the film in this review.  The review will be spoiler free, though I will give the basic plot.

            The film is about the Boston bombing that took place in 2013.  It follows the various individuals who were a part of it, including the FBI, the Boston Police Department, the Tsarnaev brothers who were behind it, and everyone else.  The film starts off before the bombing, shows the bombing, and shows the manhunt that brought the Tsarnaev brothers to justice.  It was actually pretty intense as we saw the bombing and everyone's reaction to it.

            One of the things that makes the film interesting was the tone.  It's set in the real world and all the people in it act like real humans.  This juxtaposes very well with the intense bombing scene or the pure lack of empathy the Tsarnaev brothers seem to possess towards other humans.  It makes the intense scenes all the more disturbing and the quieter moments all the more real and emotional.  This was a tone the director set in Deepwater Horizon so he sets it very well.

            The humanity is definitely effective in this film.  Everyone seems very human which makes the characters all the more believable.  It also makes the Tsarnaev brothers all the creepier.  Dzhokhar was a college student and Tamerlan was married with a wife and kid.  The fact that they're normal humans and yet capable of such horror is disturbing.

            It also makes the bombings all the worse.  Though not all the victims are focused on, you genuinely feel bad about those who died or lost their limbs.  However, the motivations of the main characters is all the more believable as you fully understand their reactions to the bombing.  Meanwhile, the joys of the film are far more enjoyable as you see the city come together to support the police, the cops reflect on their jobs, and the survivors overcome the pain they've faced.  It's a very enjoyable film for these reasons.

            Lastly, the acting is really good.  It has Kevin Bacon, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Goodman, and J. K. Simmons so that's not surprising.  However, each actor gives a great performance that fits with the tone of the film.  Each one is believable in their role.  In the end, this film really works.

            As a side note, I do enjoy some of the modern politicians being portrayed in the film.  I'm a political science major so seeing something relevant to my field of interest is always appreciated.  The film did have former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and the then mayor of Boston Thomas Menino.  However, this is irrelevant to the film itself since this subject would naturally have them.  Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it.

            Overall, it was a highly enjoyable film.  I still preferred Deepwater Horizon, but that might just be I prefer the story.  Peter Berg did a fantastic job and I eagerly await his next film.  Really, it was a great film made by great people.  Definitely one you should see!