Tommy Boy
Every film-lover has lived through that painful,
uncomfortable moment of sharing a favorite film with a friend or
family member only to have that viewer hate it. I’ve
had that experience with Tommy Boy multiple times. I even
remember an incident in college when I tried showing it to a colleague
and he asked me to turn it off after the first shot. When a
young Tommy Callahan descends from his tree house and runs toward his
home’s sliding glass door only to slam his face right into it,
my buddy got up out of his chair and asked if we could go do something
else. I guess you can’t please everybody.
I
bring this up because while I know that Tommy Boy is not
everyone’s cup of tea, it continues to be my favorite comedy
film of all time. I know, I know, there’s nothing exceptionally
elegant or savvy about the film (it’s not Young
Frankenstein; hell, it ain’t even Animal House),
but watching Tommy Boy is the cinematic equivalent of a warm
bear hug for this writer. I’ve watched it multiple times in one
day and once a week for a few months… call it my cine-
elixir.
 The story is simple. When Tommy Calahan
(Farley) finally graduates college, he comes home to take his place at
his father's auto parts company. The company, nearing an expansion, is
heavily reliant on the charms and long-standing reputation of Tommy's
father. But when his father dies, it falls to Tommy and his unwilling
accomplice (Spade) to save the company by hitting the road to make the
sales required to cover his father's loans for the expansion. With the
whole town relying on the factory for their livelihood, Tommy's
success is not only necessary for the future of the company but the
town's very survival.
Their adventure is the major
component of the second half of the film, and it’s this extended
comedy setup that really allows the film to skyrocket. Going from
situation to situation and therefore joke to joke, the film really
goes for about forty-five minutes without letting up. As I mentioned
before, it’s absolutely perfect wavelength comedy. If you think
the first five minutes of the film are hilarious, by the time the
picture hits the hour mark, you’ll be howling. If you’re
turned off from the get-go, it might be time to try a different film.
Tommy Boy’s Blu-ray Disc release gave
this writer one helluva smile this past holiday season. I watched it
two or three times, and while it doesn’t necessarily have a
stellar high definition presentation, it has quickly become a prized
possession on my home theatre shelf. Tommy Boy is the kind of
movie that won’t please everybody, but you’d better
believe that any time I hear that a friend of mine hasn’t seen
it yet, I’m going to pop in this Blu-ray Disc and attempt to
show them the light. I look forward to it…
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The 1.85:1 1080p presentation of Tommy Boy looks to have come
from the same high definition master as the film’s latest DVD
edition, so while this transfer is by all means an improvement,
it’s nothing exceptional. The biggest disappointment is lack of
sharpness, especially in more panoramic sequences. Thankfully, the
film is mostly medium and close shots, but when it opens up, finely
grained textures blur quite a bit. Color accuracy is presented well,
both in terms of flesh tones and some of the film’s more
saturated, punchy visual moments, and black levels are constant and
thorough. However, the all-too-frequent blemishes, dirt, and grime on
the transfer print disappoint, especially for a film as relatively new
as this one. Call this Blu-ray presence a step up, but definitely not
a night-and-day improvement.
The Audio: How
Does The Disc Sound?
Ditto with this Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 track. It may be a bit more finessed and have more audible
presence than the Dolby Digital 5.1 track on the special edition DVD,
but this is definitely not the kind of track that wows. Dialogue is
presented plainly, but cleanly, and in true mid-‘90s comedy
fashion, the film’s musical score and soundtrack are placed in
the mix with often distracting volume. I’m a huge fan of Paul
Westerberg’s “Silver Naked Ladies”, but when that
track comes in, I had to turn my audio system down. Atmospherics and
gag-related sound effects come through appropriately, I suppose, but
even though the film is one of my all-time favorites, I must admit
that the movie’s audio presence on both DVD and now Blu-ray Disc
doesn’t really pop. It simply doesn’t utilize the
format’s full dynamic range.
Spanish Dolby
Digital 5.1 and French 2.0 tracks are also included, as are English,
French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles and English Closed Captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
There is nothing BD-exclusive here, which is a drag,
but Tommy Boy’s Holy Schnike Edition
nevertheless has a few bonus highlights to mention.
Director Peter Segal's screen-specific audio commentary
is something special. This well-spoken and breezy filmmaker
offers anecdote after anecdote as well as informational and astute
stories about Tommy Boy's conception, production, and release
(as well as its subsequent cult status). Fantastic.
The four featurettes are also a hoot: Tommy Boy:
Behind the Laughter; Stories From the Side of the Road; Just the Two
of Us; and, Growing up Farley. They are all hilarious
peeks at the movie and, in Farley's case, his legacy and how
this film cements his screen legend.
The
deleted scenes, alternate takes, and
extended scenes aren't quite as consistently
interesting (although Peter Segal's introductions to
the scenes are spot-on). The problem is that these scenes are extended
only by maybe a line or two. There's nothing extraordinarily
important, although the deleted scene in which Rob Lowe lights a dog
on fire is simply bizarre.
The gag
reel is more successful, as are the storyboard
comparisons. Rounding out the edition is a photo
gallery, 19 TV spots, and the film's
theatrical trailer.
Final
Thoughts
Tommy Boy is this
writer’s choice for the greatest comedy of all time, so
I’m obviously quite biased in my adoration of this Blu-ray Disc
release. I can’t attest to air-tight audio and video presence,
though, and I must admit to a certain disappointment to no new
goodies. But with a movie like this, it’s all about the laughs,
and for my sensibility, Tommy Boy has those in spades. If
you’ve never seen it, do me a favor and give it a shot.
 Here’s a note about the apparent
duplicate Buy Guide. Our understaffed I.T. people are still hard
at work on a large project, putting out fires, and have not yet had
the time to modify the underlying site database formatting code to
accommodate the new 0-to-10 rating scales. So until they do, for
HD on disc, I’ll insert this note and a Buy Guide at the end of
the review text and leave the conventional 0-to-5 Buy Guide blank.
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