Funny Farm

PRETTY DARN FUNNY...
This is definitely one of the better Chevy Chase vehicles, as it does not go too far off the beaten path and is handled with a lighter touch than many of his other films. It is funny, wry, and deftly humorous.

The plot is simple. A sportswriter from New York, Andy Farmer (Chevy Chase), and his wife, Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith-Osborne), decide to move to the country so that he can write his great American novel. They move to rural Redbud, Vermont, and instead of a bucolic, pastoral setting with friendly, kindly, country folk, they find snakes, a postman who maniacally drinks and drives, a sheriff who can't drive a car, a corpse in their back yard, and a whole slew of the weirder than weird.

Instead of writing the great American novel, Andy only manages to turn out some useless drivel, while Elizabeth turns out a charming children's book. This causes great friction between the two, and it looks as if their sojourn in the country, as well as their marriage, is to be a brief one. They...

Just a Pleasure to Watch
Let me say that I'm not a big Chevy Chase fan - but I like this movie. The story of a couple, Andy and Elizabeth Farmer, who move from the daily grind of New York to the picturesque country setting of Rosebud, only to find their scenic utopia populated by a pack of small town lunatics.

There are some truly funny moments: the cackling, alcoholic mailman who never stops; the bid to sell the house (cue the deer); the casket in the garden... it all works and provides for a good movie from beginning to end.

"Cue the Deer..."
I've always admired George Roy Hill's gifts as a director, from BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, to THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, to the underrated and underappreciated THE GREAT WALDO PEPPER. In fact I think Hill was one of the top cinematic craftsmen of 70s and 80s Hollywood. And he serves the story of FUNNY FARM well.

You can tell you're in the hands of a master when not long into the story he delivers a classic, almost Lubitsch-like moment that comes when the two transplanted city folk have to spend the night in their new farm house with no furniture (the movers got lost) and nothing to eat except for a few bananas and an apple. The crunch of that apple, with perfect camera placement, comes at just the right place in the story to let you know that no matter what farfetched plot points may be coming along down the road (and there are some), the humor is going to be more subtle, and of a drier, more "throwaway" style, than what you might expect from a typical Chevy...

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