Black Sheep (1996)

2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Side Elect

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Penelope Spheeris's Black Sheep received scathing reviews in its day, and it's certainly no masterpiece, but this broad, slapstick comedy has a few good laughs, and a sweetness that, in retrospect, makes it somewhat endearing.

Al Donnelly (Tim Matheson) is running for Governor of Washington State, attempting to unseat the crooked incumbent, Evelyn Tracy (Christine Ebersole). Al's brother Mike (Chris Farley), who works for a rec center, proudly and lovingly tries to campaign for him, but continually causes trouble, like crashing a truck into a movie theater. Al taps aide Steve Dodds (David Spade) to keep an eye on Mike and keep him out of trouble; Steve agrees in exchange for a spot on Al's staff.

Trouble begins when news photographers make Mike look like he's a criminal, contributing to the delinquency of minors and burning down the rec center. Steve and Mike head to a remote cabin to stay out of the way, but trouble continues to plague them in the form of an angry Vietnam vet (Gary Busey) and an unwise visit to an MTV Rock the Vote concert. Al and Mike have a falling out, but when Governor Tracy tries to steal the election, Mike finds a way to redeem himself.

Directed by Spheeris (Wayne's World), Black Sheep was accused of being big and dumb and loud, with Farley and Spade trying and failing to fill some big shoes left behind by previous Saturday Night Live stars. (The famous film critic Gene Siskel confessed that he walked out of the movie.)

Many jokes have not aged well and the movie's political satire is pretty naive by today's standards. But the truth is, Farley rocked SNL (think of the "Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker" and "Chippendales" sketches), he had a gift for slapstick, and he and Spade had natural comic chemistry together.

The scenes at the remote shack especially work thanks to a merciless Mother Nature raining misfortune down upon them. Not to mention that the Mike character is clearly not a jerk or an idiot. We see him working with kids at the rec center, and we see him genuinely excited for his brother, and selflessly wanting to help out. It's almost impossible not to find him lovable.

Perhaps this is all in retrospect; now that we've seen the documentary I Am Chris Farley and know a little more about him, perhaps we can look at Black Sheep from a different angle. Farley's death in 1997 prevented him from making any more movies, and subsequently perhaps finding ways to grow and improve, but maybe what he left behind is enough to make a few people happy.