Funny Farm (1988)

<v Speaker 1>Anyone Juice Everything Podcast. Hello and welcome the All Eighties
<v Speaker 1>Movies Podcast, the podcast where we talk about the blockbusters,
<v Speaker 1>the flops, and everything in between from one of the
<v Speaker 1>precious decades from movies, the nineteen eighties. I'm your host
<v Speaker 1>Phil bet Long Beyond this journey revisiting eighties movies is
<v Speaker 1>my co host Jason Massek. Hello, Jason, Remember missus farmer.
<v Speaker 1>Whenever you buy a house, whatever's in the ground belongs
<v Speaker 1>to you, whether it's gold or oil or Claude Muscleman.
<v Speaker 1>That's right, listeners, we are discussing with spoilers of plenty,
<v Speaker 1>the nineteen eighty eight Fish out of Water comedy Funny Farm.
<v Speaker 1>It was produced by Film Futures and distributed by Entertainment
<v Speaker 1>Film Distributors. Movie stars Chevy Chase and Madeline Smith. Directed
<v Speaker 1>by George roy Hill, This movie's right at PG with
<v Speaker 1>a running time of one hour and forty one minutes.
<v Speaker 1>This movie was adapted from the nineteen eighty five comedic
<v Speaker 1>novel of the same name by Jay Cronley. So what
<v Speaker 1>is this movie about? What's on the box if you
<v Speaker 1>grow up in the nineteen eighties, and what's your local
<v Speaker 1>video store to rend this movie. You would fine this
<v Speaker 1>description on the back of the VHS box. It is
<v Speaker 1>what's on the box. Take it away, Jason.
<v Speaker 2>When chevy Chase plays a Manhattan sportswriter who abandons his
<v Speaker 2>career for life in the country, you know that getting
<v Speaker 2>away from it all will inevitably mean Chevy's getting in deeper,
<v Speaker 2>and that the serenity of smalltown USA will hilariously turn
<v Speaker 2>into a city slickers nightmare. Funning Farm delivers the gut
<v Speaker 2>busting fund you expect from chevy Chase. National Lampoon's Vacation,
<v Speaker 2>National Lampoon's European Fagation. Fletch Spies Like Us and The
<v Speaker 2>Three Amigos tops It's performances in all those films with
<v Speaker 2>his pratt falling portrayal of urban transplant Andy Farmer. Madeline
<v Speaker 2>Smith co stars as Andy's supportive wife. Together, the Funny
<v Speaker 2>Farmers learned that the eccentric people and events of their
<v Speaker 2>new hometown outnumber even the mosquitoes. The postman guns along
<v Speaker 2>the back roads like mad Max. The sheriff travels nowhere
<v Speaker 2>without a chauffeur. Gruesome discoveries turn up in the garden
<v Speaker 2>and pond, and Andy becomes the punchline of the movie's
<v Speaker 2>rowdiest gag when he unsuspectingly brags call me mister lamb
<v Speaker 2>Fryes call Funny Farm. Endlessly entertaining, filled with comic delights.
<v Speaker 2>It also features the buoyant direction of George roy Hill,
<v Speaker 2>a vibrant Elmer Bernstein score, and the lush cinematography of
<v Speaker 2>Miroslav Underchek. Harvest the good times from Funny Farm.
<v Speaker 1>Funny Farm, So that was what's on the box. Let's
<v Speaker 1>move on to her eighty snapshot as we highlight some
<v Speaker 1>of the creative forces from this movie.
<v Speaker 2>Jason. For my eighties snapshot, I chose Jeffrey Boom, the
<v Speaker 2>screenwriter of Funny Farm. Jeffrey Bohm, writer and producer from Rochester,
<v Speaker 2>New York. Here's a little trivia actually from IMDb about
<v Speaker 2>Jeffrey Boem. Before becoming a successful screenwriter, he actually worked
<v Speaker 2>as a studio executive for many years. I never knew
<v Speaker 2>that Boem's films that he wrote screenplays for have a
<v Speaker 2>cumulative gross of over one billion dollars. That's right, folks,
<v Speaker 2>one billion dollars. Here's his eighty snapshot as a writer.
<v Speaker 2>These are the highlights the dead Zone in eighty three.
<v Speaker 2>He's uncredited on Lethal Weapon in nineteen eighty seven. He
<v Speaker 2>pens Innerspace in eighty seven, The Lost Boys in eighty seven,
<v Speaker 2>Funny Farm Here in eighty eight, Indiana Jones, and The
<v Speaker 2>Last Crusade in eighty nine, and then Lethal Weapon two
<v Speaker 2>in eighty nine. Not a bad eighties run. He would
<v Speaker 2>go on to write Leith Wepon three in ninety two,
<v Speaker 2>and then The Witches of Eastwick in ninety two. He
<v Speaker 2>does twenty seven episodes of the Adventures of Briscoe County Junior,
<v Speaker 2>which I thought was really cool. He penned The Phantom
<v Speaker 2>in nineteen ninety six, so those are some of the
<v Speaker 2>highlights there. He did pass away on January twenty sixth
<v Speaker 2>and two thousand due to a heart failure from a
<v Speaker 2>rare lung disease. So here's a little quote from Jeffrey Boem.
<v Speaker 2>I get the thing in my head and see it
<v Speaker 2>from start to finish. Then I sit down and start
<v Speaker 2>writing it. I don't have any kind of routine where
<v Speaker 2>I do notes or outlines or character sketches. I just
<v Speaker 2>try and live with it in my head until it's
<v Speaker 2>ready to be spat out. Jeffrey Boem great screenwriter. He
<v Speaker 2>pops up every once in a while and these huge
<v Speaker 2>eighties films and I'm like, man, this guy had quite
<v Speaker 2>the career and we lost him too soon.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I mean, you just
<v Speaker 1>listed off an impressive list of credits. As a writer,
<v Speaker 1>you would hope to maybe two two of those titles
<v Speaker 1>he has all then Wow.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, every time I hear his name, I think of
<v Speaker 2>the opening credits of Last Crusade. For some reason, Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I can see it with that backdrop of where do
<v Speaker 2>they shoot that opening, like in Utah or wherever that was?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, with that.
<v Speaker 2>Font they use for the credits in Indiana Jones Alascrusda,
<v Speaker 2>it just kind of pops. I'm like, oh, Jeffrey boem Right,
<v Speaker 2>he wrote this too, good stuff. What do you have
<v Speaker 2>for your idies? Snapshot Bill bant So.
<v Speaker 1>I went with director George Roy Hill, and George wasn't
<v Speaker 1>your typical Hollywood director. Born in nineteen twenty one to
<v Speaker 1>a wealthy Irish Catholic family in Minneapolis, Hill grew up
<v Speaker 1>loving music, airplanes, and stories, the three passions that would
<v Speaker 1>later define his life. He studied music at Yale under
<v Speaker 1>the great composer Paul Hindermith ran the university's drama society,
<v Speaker 1>and then went off to war. Hill served as a
<v Speaker 1>marine pilot in both World War Two and the Korean War,
<v Speaker 1>an experience that fueled his lifelong obsession with flying. After
<v Speaker 1>the war, he acted on stage in Ireland and on Broadway,
<v Speaker 1>and then turned to directing, first in live television and theater,
<v Speaker 1>and eventually in film. His first movie, Period of Adjustment, came
<v Speaker 1>out in nineteen sixty two, but it was Butch Cassidy
<v Speaker 1>and The Sundance Kid that made him a household name.
<v Speaker 1>Hill was the one who assisted on p arring Paul
<v Speaker 1>Newman and then up and coming Robert Redford, a decision
<v Speaker 1>that changed both their careers and movie history. He reunited
<v Speaker 1>with the duo for The Sting, a clever con artist
<v Speaker 1>caper that won seven Oscars, including Best Director for Hill.
<v Speaker 1>Hill goes on to direct the hockey comedy classic Slap Shot,
<v Speaker 1>again with Newman in nineteen seventy seven. By the nineteen eighties,
<v Speaker 1>George Roy Hill's film career was winding down. His major
<v Speaker 1>work from that decade was the World According to Garp
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty two, based on John Irving's novel, starring
<v Speaker 1>Robin Williams and gun Clothes. The film was both a
<v Speaker 1>critical a commercial success, earning Oscar nominations for Close and
<v Speaker 1>John Lithgow. H'll followed it with The Little Drummer Girl
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty four, darring Diane Keaton. Though ambitious, it
<v Speaker 1>received mixed reviews and struggled at the box office, and
<v Speaker 1>then his final film was This Funny Farm in nineteen
<v Speaker 1>eighty eight. After stepping away from Hollywood, He'll return to
<v Speaker 1>Yale to teach drama, sharing his love of storytelling with
<v Speaker 1>a new generation. He passed away in two thousand and
<v Speaker 1>two at the age of eighty one, after a long
<v Speaker 1>battle with Parkinson's I was director George roy Hill.
<v Speaker 2>Great stuff. That was excellent nineteen twenty one. Man, that
<v Speaker 2>guy goes way back, Yeah he does. I did not
<v Speaker 2>realize he also directed a slap shot that's awesome.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah. One of the actors that was driving up
<v Speaker 1>the wall when I was watching this brat Sullivan was Brock,
<v Speaker 1>the one who wants to kill Andy throughout the movie.
<v Speaker 2>Sure, what do I.
<v Speaker 1>Know him from? And then I was like, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he's a slap shot and that's one of my favorite
<v Speaker 1>lines of the movie. Here you go. I don't think
<v Speaker 1>it's appropriate to repeat on this podcast.
<v Speaker 2>Love it all right.
<v Speaker 1>So this leads to earliest memories of the movie. Jason
<v Speaker 1>start us off. What do you remember about Funny Farm
<v Speaker 1>way back when?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Absolutely, let's get funny with this film. Yeah, you
<v Speaker 2>know what, I remember always liking this movie. If I
<v Speaker 2>caught it on cable. It was one of those Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>if I caught it in the middle of it, I'd
<v Speaker 2>watch it. I'd watch the rest of it, at least
<v Speaker 2>a few scenes. It was always enjoyable to me as
<v Speaker 2>a young person. I've always been a fan of Chevy
<v Speaker 2>Chase and the livery and his physical comedy. There's the
<v Speaker 2>pratt falling that was mentioned in the What's on the
<v Speaker 2>Box segment, and that's was his talent. I recall being
<v Speaker 2>a fan of miss Madeline Smith in this. I always
<v Speaker 2>thought she was very attractive, She is quite adorable. I
<v Speaker 2>thought she gave a decent comedic performance. I remember a
<v Speaker 2>few of the highlights, of course, I mean before even
<v Speaker 2>watching this. I recall the lamb fries, of course, the
<v Speaker 2>crazed alcoholic Maleman, and I remember enjoying the holiday Christmas
<v Speaker 2>cheer of the ending. It just always gave me a warm,
<v Speaker 2>fuzzy feeling inside. I definitely remember the very scenic atmosphere,
<v Speaker 2>that rural feel, and that's pretty much it in a nutshell.
<v Speaker 2>I was a fan of this movie when I was
<v Speaker 2>a kid, a teenager. I didn't think it was the
<v Speaker 2>greatest thing ever, but it was just simple feel good
<v Speaker 2>movie and I got a kick out of the goofy
<v Speaker 2>characters and site gags. Nothing else really to break down here,
<v Speaker 2>Bill Band. I didn't think it was outrageously hilarious, but
<v Speaker 2>always found it amusing. That's all I got for you
<v Speaker 2>for early memories. What are yours?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, this was a rental for me. I do remember
<v Speaker 1>seeing the ads in the paper of Chevy Chase with
<v Speaker 1>the egg on his head, thinking it was a movie
<v Speaker 1>about farming, and then renting it and it's not even
<v Speaker 1>about farming whatsoever. But I do remember enjoying it, and
<v Speaker 1>I watched that one a lot on cable. I bet
<v Speaker 1>I watched Funny Farm more at one point than I
<v Speaker 1>watched Fletch right, just because it was on more. Not
<v Speaker 1>that I'm saying it's a better movie. It's almost like
<v Speaker 1>a comfort food kind of film.
<v Speaker 2>I just it was on. I like it.
<v Speaker 1>It just kind of flows. That's my earliest memory. I'm
<v Speaker 1>right there with you.
<v Speaker 2>It's one of those things that just happened to be
<v Speaker 2>on a lot, and you smile when chevy Chase does
<v Speaker 2>his thing. He's great, He's very charming, and he's good
<v Speaker 2>at falling down. Let's just put it that way.
<v Speaker 1>I agree, all right, So initial thoughts now of a
<v Speaker 1>funny farm all these years later.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, an interesting rewatch as an adult, let's just talk
<v Speaker 2>about that cast real quick. I think chevy Chase is
<v Speaker 2>fine in this. Is he given a lot to do.
<v Speaker 2>I guess this is how I use the word serviceable.
<v Speaker 2>And I felt like Madeline Smith as Elizabeth Farmer, the
<v Speaker 2>wife of Andy Farmer played by Chevy Chase. I thought
<v Speaker 2>Madeline Smith was fine. I'm watching it now just saying,
<v Speaker 2>what's the relationship between her and chevy Chase? Is a
<v Speaker 2>good chemistry, etc. And they were good together. I thought
<v Speaker 2>they matched well together. It was fine. I wasn't necessarily
<v Speaker 2>laughing out loud at moments, but I found myself smiling often.
<v Speaker 2>There's just several moments throughout this film where I found
<v Speaker 2>it amusing once again as an adult. I must say
<v Speaker 2>the movie looks good to me. Credit to veteran DP
<v Speaker 2>director of photography Miroslav Underchek Elmer Bernstein. Love him he
<v Speaker 2>does the score for this film. Love his past work,
<v Speaker 2>wonderful Resume, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Animal House, Meatballs,
<v Speaker 2>Airplane Stripes, Trading Places, Ghostbusters, that's Elmer Bernstein. Now we
<v Speaker 2>have Funny Farm. It's fine. It's fine. That's kind of
<v Speaker 2>my overall feeling about this film this far.
<v Speaker 1>Did you have any commentary on you You're saying fine.
<v Speaker 1>I think my word for this is safe. This movie
<v Speaker 1>feels safe.
<v Speaker 2>Bill Bant is one of the last notes I wrote,
<v Speaker 2>and I was saving it for my conclusion. I wrote safe,
<v Speaker 2>it feels safe. I wrote that exact same thing. I'm
<v Speaker 2>glad you said it. Please continue.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I was trying to think about how I would
<v Speaker 1>describe this movie. Because I do like it, I do
<v Speaker 1>enjoy it. I would recommend it. But if I recommend
<v Speaker 1>to someone and they never watched it, they're not really
<v Speaker 1>missing anything. But if they watched it, they wouldn't be like,
<v Speaker 1>why the hell did you recommend this movie? It's just there.
<v Speaker 1>It's just there. I'm not sitting through it. Going, oh
<v Speaker 1>my god, what is this going to end? I put
<v Speaker 1>it on and I chuckle a couple of times, and
<v Speaker 1>I like the premise. I mean, there's a one scene
<v Speaker 1>that does stand out that we'll talk about, but outside
<v Speaker 1>of that, there's nothing groundbreaking about it. It is funny
<v Speaker 1>when I was researching, how many people like chasing.
<v Speaker 2>This, Yeah, including himself.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I wish a little more could have been on
<v Speaker 1>the humor. The fish out of Water could have been
<v Speaker 1>hammered a little bit better. I think the issue is
<v Speaker 1>they make it seem like this town is full of
<v Speaker 1>crazed lunatics. It almost has that northern exposure shows with
<v Speaker 1>have all the quirky characters, but we never really get
<v Speaker 1>to see the quirky characters. We just kind of see
<v Speaker 1>how Andy and Elizabeth aren't adjusting well to life outside
<v Speaker 1>the city. Right. Maybe if it got a little more
<v Speaker 1>into that, had more of those standout characters, I think
<v Speaker 1>it would be a more fun film. So it just
<v Speaker 1>plays it safe, wholeheartedly.
<v Speaker 2>Agree, wholeheartedly agree that's safe, and it's on the surface.
<v Speaker 2>Jeffrey Boem himself was hoping to when he was writing it,
<v Speaker 2>was hoping to get a little more I don't know
<v Speaker 2>if gritty's the right word, but more based on the
<v Speaker 2>actual novel itself versus George roy Hill decided to go
<v Speaker 2>in a different direction with it and ultimately had control
<v Speaker 2>in the actual direction, of course, and it was on
<v Speaker 2>the life. That's the way he went with it, and
<v Speaker 2>it's pretty clear. But yeah, I'm going to get into
<v Speaker 2>it here. I mean, I actually want to take a
<v Speaker 2>step back and say that I had an interesting viewing
<v Speaker 2>experience this time because I was joined by a friend
<v Speaker 2>of mine, and she's a female friend of mine. She's
<v Speaker 2>significantly younger, she's a millennial, and she was watching it
<v Speaker 2>for the very first time. So I was watching it
<v Speaker 2>wondering in the back of my mind how she was
<v Speaker 2>seeing it. And of course, as we all know, watching
<v Speaker 2>a movie with someone else is an entirely different experience
<v Speaker 2>than just watching it by yourself. So what it did,
<v Speaker 2>interestingly enough, was make me look at it without my
<v Speaker 2>nostalgic glasses on. It wasn't as if I was watching
<v Speaker 2>this with like a contemporary like you in the room,
<v Speaker 2>Bill Bant, or a buddy of mine that grew up
<v Speaker 2>during the eighties and we could predict that next scene
<v Speaker 2>coming on or already start laughing about what was coming
<v Speaker 2>up next, or smile in that nostalgic moment. It was different.
<v Speaker 2>It's just different. So I felt I was a little
<v Speaker 2>more critical upon this viewing as an adult. So Funny
<v Speaker 2>Farm It's one of those movies just feels like a
<v Speaker 2>series of hijinks for the first hour or so. There's
<v Speaker 2>just not much in the way of story or character development.
<v Speaker 2>Like you were talking about these townsfolk that just fill
<v Speaker 2>out the scenery and you want to know more, but
<v Speaker 2>they all are just kind of the one note, one stick,
<v Speaker 2>one trick ponies. It's mostly like National Lampoon's vacation. Especially
<v Speaker 2>regarding Chevy Chase's character, Andy Farmer, He's like Clark Griswold
<v Speaker 2>on a farm, I guess, but it's or in the
<v Speaker 2>country and he's trying to stay positive all the time
<v Speaker 2>while everything is falling apart. However, the difference here's the wife,
<v Speaker 2>Elizabeth Farmer. She clearly isn't happy and he's oblivious to
<v Speaker 2>it the whole time. And then there's this series of
<v Speaker 2>light gags, silly gags, the one note characters, these one
<v Speaker 2>note character we really don't learn anything about these characters,
<v Speaker 2>like Sheriff Ledbetter, or that Brock character, or the crazed
<v Speaker 2>mailman who we learn as crumb Peatrie, the antique dealer
<v Speaker 2>that sells everything related to dead relatives. It's funny on
<v Speaker 2>the surface, but we don't get to know them at
<v Speaker 2>all or see a relationship developed between those characters. With
<v Speaker 2>Andy and Elizabeth Farmer, there's just no bond between them, really,
<v Speaker 2>so it's just more hyjinks of things going bad while
<v Speaker 2>now Andy Farmer. The whole idea here, folks, if you
<v Speaker 2>haven't seen the movie for any reason, is that Andy
<v Speaker 2>is moving on from the big city as a sports
<v Speaker 2>writer and he's been given correct me if I'm wrong,
<v Speaker 2>he's been given in advance by a publisher to write
<v Speaker 2>his great, the great novel he has within him. Right,
<v Speaker 2>has he given like a ten thousand dollars advance?
<v Speaker 1>Ten thousand?
<v Speaker 2>Right? So the idea is that he and his wife
<v Speaker 2>Elizabeth have looked at this beautiful property out in the
<v Speaker 2>country and they're going to move there, and he's going
<v Speaker 2>to write this novel and live out their lives in
<v Speaker 2>this serene location. So then throughout these hijinks, Andy has
<v Speaker 2>writer's block. Then he manages to write a terrible first
<v Speaker 2>draft of his novel. Meanwhile, Elizabeth has inspired to write
<v Speaker 2>her own children's book, which becomes successful, and then Andy
<v Speaker 2>betrays her. Then they decide to divorce and sell the
<v Speaker 2>country house. And then they recruit, slash bribe the townspeople
<v Speaker 2>to help them sell the house. So the townspeople selfishly
<v Speaker 2>go overboard with the Christmas holiday costumes, caroling and themes.
<v Speaker 2>And after the farmer see what the fantasy of this town,
<v Speaker 2>which is called Redbud out in the country could be,
<v Speaker 2>they decide to make up and not get divorced, and
<v Speaker 2>they decide to stay after all this, the problem is
<v Speaker 2>that they're still hated by the townspeople and all of
<v Speaker 2>it is a facade. And more importantly, Andy was a
<v Speaker 2>complete asshole to Elizabeth and she somehow just forgave him overnight.
<v Speaker 2>I'm getting into my complaints clearly here, but that's like
<v Speaker 2>the gist of this movie as I'm watching it as
<v Speaker 2>an adult, Like this is how I'm seeing it. So
<v Speaker 2>I don't mean to sound overly critical, but I was
<v Speaker 2>a little surprised of like, this movie is really flawed.
<v Speaker 2>Everything else I said still holds true, where it's still
<v Speaker 2>fun and light on its feet at times, but from
<v Speaker 2>a story structure standpoint, I found it extremely flawed, and
<v Speaker 2>I did not understand the character's motivations at the end,
<v Speaker 2>and I found there was just real no connection to
<v Speaker 2>the town or townsfolk at all, which was concerning to me.
<v Speaker 2>You know. One thing I wanted to see a little
<v Speaker 2>more of, too, was really Andy's process, Like, because I'm
<v Speaker 2>a writer, you're a writer, you want to see what
<v Speaker 2>a writer goes through. And we just kind of see
<v Speaker 2>him frustrated with having the writer's block, and we see
<v Speaker 2>that Elizabeth goes behind his back to write her children's book.
<v Speaker 2>We're not getting into the process of a writer, in
<v Speaker 2>the head of a writer and what the a writer
<v Speaker 2>goes through and trying to develop a novel. It's all
<v Speaker 2>again just kind of safe and on the surface and
<v Speaker 2>goofy stuff happens, and that's it, and then it's over
<v Speaker 2>and I'm going to save more for favorite scenes and complaints.
<v Speaker 2>But watching it as an adult, it's all right, it's
<v Speaker 2>all right. I don't know if I need to see
<v Speaker 2>it again for a while. I feel like it was
<v Speaker 2>a different experience this time watching it, and if it's
<v Speaker 2>not terrible, it's just Okay, that's all I got, Bill.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I took. My big complaint about is there's definitely
<v Speaker 1>a disconnect between the farmers and the residents I red bud. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>because when they decide to sell the house and then
<v Speaker 1>they present to the townsfolk, Hey, we need you to
<v Speaker 1>stop acting like idiots so we can sell our house.
<v Speaker 1>How did we get to this point from what I understand?
<v Speaker 1>And he's only had trouble with two of the townsfolk, right,
<v Speaker 1>It's not like they're walking through the town they're getting
<v Speaker 1>jeered and made fun of. Nothing really that bad has
<v Speaker 1>happened to them up to this point. So there's a
<v Speaker 1>disconnect that I didn't see him, Like, what am I
<v Speaker 1>missing that they've gotten to this point? All the characters
<v Speaker 1>are just one off jokes. The sheriff the fact that
<v Speaker 1>he cannot drive, right, I find that funny definitely. But
<v Speaker 1>let's bring something else. We meet the brothers Lahn and Dirk,
<v Speaker 1>who are supposed to be your goofballs. I think of
<v Speaker 1>a new Heart with Larry, Daryl and Darryl. I'm like, okay,
<v Speaker 1>let's beat into that a little bit more. Nope, they
<v Speaker 1>don't really do anything. Yep, crumb, Yeah, you get a
<v Speaker 1>little bit out of him, and then Brock, who he
<v Speaker 1>was doing the fishing with, and Brock just always wants
<v Speaker 1>to kill him. Well, the other two guys on the
<v Speaker 1>boat weren't any better than what Andy was doing, so
<v Speaker 1>why is the hate all towards him?
<v Speaker 2>Mm hm.
<v Speaker 1>I just wish they got into more of what the
<v Speaker 1>animosity is between the farmers and the residents of Rosebud.
<v Speaker 1>Play that up for laughs and develop the characters a
<v Speaker 1>little more. I do like Chase is in Smith's chemistry.
<v Speaker 2>Agreed.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean there's some other complaints about their relationship.
<v Speaker 1>I'll get into the complaint department, but.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, me too.
<v Speaker 1>I just had to go back to it. It's a
<v Speaker 1>safe movie if you watch it. I think there's nothing
<v Speaker 1>groundbreaking about it. Kind of weird that Chase is the
<v Speaker 1>star of the movie but doesn't feel like he's the
<v Speaker 1>star of the movie. I would almost feel like it's
<v Speaker 1>more Madeleine Smith's movie.
<v Speaker 2>I like that take.
<v Speaker 1>Because she's the one that's going through changes throughout the movie. Right, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I think you learn more about her than you do
<v Speaker 1>Andy in this.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I you know again, you said, you know, fish
<v Speaker 2>out of water. It's clearly a Fish out of Water story,
<v Speaker 2>and even within the movie, you have Madeline Smith writing
<v Speaker 2>this children's book which is based on Andy, but in
<v Speaker 2>the form of a squirrel being a fish out of water.
<v Speaker 2>It's going from the city to the country life. It's
<v Speaker 2>a change of pace, scenery, and again the town, the
<v Speaker 2>type of people. So you mentioned like northern exposure, but
<v Speaker 2>these are the farmers become strangers in a strange land,
<v Speaker 2>and I want to see how that affects their relationship.
<v Speaker 2>And there is a hint in the beginning when they
<v Speaker 2>first move there that Chevy is urging his wife to
<v Speaker 2>give this a chance, because he says, not only are
<v Speaker 2>we here to enjoy the scenery, but we're here to
<v Speaker 2>be together to work on a relationship. And I was like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>you've just planted a seed here. Was there something wrong
<v Speaker 2>with their relationship prior to this or something missing or Okay,
<v Speaker 2>So now move to the country supposedly is going to
<v Speaker 2>help them find some peace and serenity and they can
<v Speaker 2>work on themselves and being together. And we just don't
<v Speaker 2>get a lot of that. It's just more he's trying
<v Speaker 2>to write, she's frustrated, he's oblivious to it. Then she
<v Speaker 2>writes the book, and then he becomes jealous and turns
<v Speaker 2>to alcohol, and then she wants a divorce, And You're right,
<v Speaker 2>it's interesting looking at it now, thinking it's more of
<v Speaker 2>hers journey that we're following. But then it just turns
<v Speaker 2>all of a sudden in the last twenty minutes where
<v Speaker 2>everything becomes honky dory, and I'm like, I missed something
<v Speaker 2>in the just relationship development between the farmers and the
<v Speaker 2>relationship between the farmers and the townsfolk. That's it.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't think going into this move that they had
<v Speaker 1>an issue with their relationship. I think just because it's
<v Speaker 1>fast paced. He's a sports writer. I'm sure he's not
<v Speaker 1>around a lot. They go somewhere else where it's slows down,
<v Speaker 1>so they can actually have a family family right, thinking
<v Speaker 1>about having kids move in that direction, So I thought
<v Speaker 1>that was one of the reasons for the move. Also,
<v Speaker 1>outside of in the events for the book, I didn't
<v Speaker 1>think they really had issues until they moved and Elizabeth
<v Speaker 1>realized this is not really the life that she wants initially,
<v Speaker 1>but that does change by the.
<v Speaker 2>End, right, Yeah, because simply nothing's working. There's no phone
<v Speaker 2>in the house, there's a giant sea snake, and there's
<v Speaker 2>water snake in the bond, there's a dead body, there's
<v Speaker 2>bones buried in the garden. I mean, it's just one
<v Speaker 2>thing after another seems to go wrong, and she's increasingly
<v Speaker 2>becoming distraught about it, which is understandable. Yeah, I just
<v Speaker 2>would have liked to seen more a little more sensitivity
<v Speaker 2>from his character to her in recognizing that. It just
<v Speaker 2>feels like he's very much kind of self centered or
<v Speaker 2>self serving and working on his book, Like he's just like,
<v Speaker 2>I'm here to do this and it's going to be
<v Speaker 2>this is my dream and nothing's going to get in
<v Speaker 2>the way of it, while she's struggling the entire time.
<v Speaker 1>So it's basically Chevy Chase playing himself off screen.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, all right, So I just I think I
<v Speaker 2>just laid out all my complaints already, so I jumped
<v Speaker 2>away ahead anyway. Yeah, we can move on, all right,
<v Speaker 2>let's move on.
<v Speaker 1>Two favorite scenes or moments. Think I'm going first on
<v Speaker 1>this one, and it's just a laugh out moment for me.
<v Speaker 1>And then there was like a little follow up joke.
<v Speaker 1>So Andy and Elizabeth get to the house. They're all excited.
<v Speaker 1>They're running around and looking at it, and there's a pond,
<v Speaker 1>and there's ducks, and you might have a few mosquitoes.
<v Speaker 1>But they're about to go into the front door, and
<v Speaker 1>he decides that he's going to pick up Elizabeth and
<v Speaker 1>carry her through the threshold, and he opens the door,
<v Speaker 1>not knowing that the door is split top half bottom half,
<v Speaker 1>so it only opens the top half, and drops Elizabeth.
<v Speaker 2>Through the door, which hurts.
<v Speaker 1>It's funny at the same time, but I'm like, oh God,
<v Speaker 1>that must have hurt. So he opens the door, you know,
<v Speaker 1>make sure that she's okay, and then she says she's
<v Speaker 1>all right, and then they're talking about the house, and
<v Speaker 1>then she has this throw away line about I wonder
<v Speaker 1>how long it takes an ambulance to get here, meaning
<v Speaker 1>that she's still hurt from the fall. I don't think
<v Speaker 1>I ever caught that before, because I think the action
<v Speaker 1>of her him dropping her through just feels natural and
<v Speaker 1>like I could see that actually happening. How do they
<v Speaker 1>know the door is not locked to be connected, so
<v Speaker 1>it all opens a one piece. And then of course
<v Speaker 1>saying that you're okay, okay, But really, when everyone walks
<v Speaker 1>away and you're still like, oh Jesus Christ, that really hurt,
<v Speaker 1>might crack my tailbone kind of thing. So it's really brief,
<v Speaker 1>but I found it funny because it felt natural. It
<v Speaker 1>felt real to me. It wasn't like a stage little
<v Speaker 1>bit which happens throughout the movie.
<v Speaker 2>I laugh out loud every time it happens, and it
<v Speaker 2>caught me off guard a little bit on the rewatch,
<v Speaker 2>even though just at the very last millisecond I knew
<v Speaker 2>it was coming because it just made laugh so much.
<v Speaker 2>As a kid too, I definitely remember that moment, but
<v Speaker 2>it just happened so quickly in the film. It's it's
<v Speaker 2>smartly edited. I feel too. You just you forget that
<v Speaker 2>They're like, oh, here got and then he just walks
<v Speaker 2>her and drops her, and it's pretty brutal. It's a
<v Speaker 2>great physical bit. And with the clever line from her afterward,
<v Speaker 2>and she has some actual good lines in this, it
<v Speaker 2>made me think of a line it happens right after
<v Speaker 2>that when they have to spend the evening in the
<v Speaker 2>house without any of their belongings because the moving truck
<v Speaker 2>got lost and they're sleeping on the floor, and she
<v Speaker 2>says something to the effect of, oh, I know why
<v Speaker 2>they call them hardwood floors, because they're hard wood floors,
<v Speaker 2>so there's some good stuff. She has some good stuff,
<v Speaker 2>but that particular moment dropping her over the doors, it's priceless.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I agree, What do we have next? I think
<v Speaker 1>we both are in agreement with this next scene.
<v Speaker 2>A thousand percent probably the most memorable scene for a
<v Speaker 2>lot of those of you that have seen this film.
<v Speaker 2>This is kind of a go to probably remember this.
<v Speaker 2>It's the lamb fries, that's right. It just so happens
<v Speaker 2>that it is the Farmer's anniversary and they're going to
<v Speaker 2>go out on the town for a little bit. So
<v Speaker 2>they decide to go to the local diner restaurant and
<v Speaker 2>just cuts to the waitress who's also the cook. As
<v Speaker 2>it turns out, she's just frying up some land fries
<v Speaker 2>that look like meatballs basically in a pan, and she's
<v Speaker 2>serving them up to Andy Farmer, and they're sitting right
<v Speaker 2>at the actual counter, and they're all dressed to the nines,
<v Speaker 2>looking good, but they're enjoying some of the good local
<v Speaker 2>fair and the grub and these lamb fries that look
<v Speaker 2>like meatballs. Well, Andy Farmer's just chowing down on these things.
<v Speaker 2>And there's some locals also at the counter, and they're like, wow,
<v Speaker 2>he's going to town on these things, and just well,
<v Speaker 2>in particular, Elizabeth like, that's your third plate. Pretty impressive,
<v Speaker 2>and of course she says, yeah, that's your third plate,
<v Speaker 2>and he's like, well, calling mister lamb Fries. And then
<v Speaker 2>you have the local that's sitting to the right of Andy,
<v Speaker 2>I believe, who says, now, that's a man who knows
<v Speaker 2>when he's got something good in his mouth. And then
<v Speaker 2>we quickly discover that he's actually this is Andy about
<v Speaker 2>to break the record for eating the most lamb fries,
<v Speaker 2>these little meatballs. And there's an actual chalkboard hanging up
<v Speaker 2>behind the waitress and she's got a piece of chalk
<v Speaker 2>and she's changing the tally. She's telling up how many
<v Speaker 2>he's eaten. The record I believe is twenty eight, and
<v Speaker 2>he's at like twenty six, twenty seven. Then all of
<v Speaker 2>a sudden, he's, of course, chevy Chase is all proud
<v Speaker 2>of himself as he downs number twenty nine, breaking the record,
<v Speaker 2>and she has to change the number on the chalkboard
<v Speaker 2>and he's like wait, wait, wait, like he's got more
<v Speaker 2>in him. And then he eats number thirty and I
<v Speaker 2>believe he goes to eat thirty one, and you just
<v Speaker 2>hear the line most folks don't seem to have a
<v Speaker 2>taste for testicles no more. You hear Elizabeth goes testicles,
<v Speaker 2>and then you hear the again. The locals say, yes,
<v Speaker 2>ma'am sheep balls. Tell them why yours are so tasty?
<v Speaker 2>As he's talking to the waitress, and the waitress responds,
<v Speaker 2>the trick is you gotta clip them off way up high,
<v Speaker 2>and she makes this gesture with like ess like doing
<v Speaker 2>the fingers like sit and then of course Andy spits
<v Speaker 2>the lambfry slash sheep ball right out of his mouth
<v Speaker 2>and makes for the exit as Elizabeth follows him out
<v Speaker 2>of the diner. It's actually a quick scene. It's memorable.
<v Speaker 2>You almost kind of see it coming. It's set up
<v Speaker 2>in a certain way, but it's still funny because of
<v Speaker 2>the performances by both the waitress and the local that's
<v Speaker 2>sitting next to Chevy Chase. And I also like the
<v Speaker 2>fact that it's subtle. But you see the waitress then
<v Speaker 2>erase the thirty one and she puts it back to
<v Speaker 2>thirty because he spit out the last lambfry, and I,
<v Speaker 2>for whatever reason, I don't know if this is like
<v Speaker 2>the Mandela effect, but I thought he was going to
<v Speaker 2>actually throw up in that she erased the entire board
<v Speaker 2>and it went back to twenty eight, the prior record.
<v Speaker 2>But he don't actually see him throw up. So I
<v Speaker 2>was going to save this for additional questions. But do
<v Speaker 2>you think he actually throws up or should he retain
<v Speaker 2>the record at thirty?
<v Speaker 1>I think he should retain the record, Yeah, I say so.
<v Speaker 2>I think so.
<v Speaker 1>I was going to say, if you missed the thirty
<v Speaker 1>one to thirty, I was gonna point that out. But
<v Speaker 1>here again, here they are at the diner, the waitresses
<v Speaker 1>being nice, the towns focus being nice. When he breaks
<v Speaker 1>a record, everyone in the restaurant is clapping. So why
<v Speaker 1>later down the road does there seem to be a
<v Speaker 1>disconnect between them and the townsfolk. It's not showcased in
<v Speaker 1>this scene. It would make more sense if the record
<v Speaker 1>was sacred in the fact that Andy broke it, that
<v Speaker 1>people are pissed, and then well you're eating land testicles.
<v Speaker 1>But it's a funny, memorable scene.
<v Speaker 2>I have nothing that you make a really good point
<v Speaker 2>that they all are getting along, because I'm starting to
<v Speaker 2>think of the other scenes where there was real, like
<v Speaker 2>an antagonistic nature between them and the townsfolk. Elizabeth doesn't
<v Speaker 2>really have any negative run ins with anyone that go awry.
<v Speaker 2>It's just Chevy Chase and that boat scene with Brock
<v Speaker 2>and the other guy that goes and they're fishing and
<v Speaker 2>it goes all to hell. And then we have the
<v Speaker 2>crazed mailman, but we don't even know the man, like
<v Speaker 2>Andy doesn't have a relationship to the man man except
<v Speaker 2>that he just keeps blowing by the mailbox, throwing the
<v Speaker 2>mail out the window. We don't even see his face.
<v Speaker 2>We don't know why, if or why the mailman would
<v Speaker 2>hate Andy. We know why Andy doesn't like him. But
<v Speaker 2>as for the other townsfolk, they seem to all be
<v Speaker 2>getting along. It doesn't so why do they feel they
<v Speaker 2>all hate them? At the end, I don't know anyway,
<v Speaker 2>going off on a tangent.
<v Speaker 1>That's okay. So for my next well, it's a big
<v Speaker 1>scene because it's almost a third act of the movie,
<v Speaker 1>but I do like the premise of it. Unfortunately, it's
<v Speaker 1>gotten to the point where Andy and Elizabeth are talking
<v Speaker 1>about getting a divorce so they have to sell the house,
<v Speaker 1>and in their mind order to sell the house. The
<v Speaker 1>townsfolk need to help because they think the townsfolk are
<v Speaker 1>part of the problem of why they're getting divorced. So
<v Speaker 1>they speak at the local town hall meeting and they
<v Speaker 1>want the town to mimic basically Norman Rockwell paintings. So
<v Speaker 1>when prospective buyers come to look at the house, still
<v Speaker 1>think this is the most beautiful place in the world
<v Speaker 1>to be is in Rosebud.
<v Speaker 2>I like that, you said, Rosebud. That's great, little slip there,
<v Speaker 2>little citizen Kane slip Rosemud. So yeah, so Redbud.
<v Speaker 1>And we do have a couple that's coming to look
<v Speaker 1>at the house, and it just happens to be during
<v Speaker 1>the holidays, and the townfolk go all out, Yeah, Christmas,
<v Speaker 1>Carol's in the backyard. They take this couple downtown. They
<v Speaker 1>have this huge tree. Everybody, of course, is coming up
<v Speaker 1>and being super nice. The police chief, who can't drive
<v Speaker 1>all of a sudden, pulls up in a car and
<v Speaker 1>comes out and says, hell, he makes sure he sees
<v Speaker 1>the farmer house twice a day and checks the neighborhood
<v Speaker 1>whilst car drives off and runs over a tree. What's
<v Speaker 1>funny about this because when they have the town hall meeting.
<v Speaker 1>The farmers do say, hey, if we sell the house,
<v Speaker 1>we're going to donate x amount of money to Redbud,
<v Speaker 1>and if anyone does a active kindness in front of us,
<v Speaker 1>we'll give them fifty bucks. So the townsfolk are all
<v Speaker 1>going out, so just a factor walk across town. Everyone's
<v Speaker 1>coming up, Hey, Andy, hey, lisbit that kind of stuff.
<v Speaker 1>And then they give their names so they know they
<v Speaker 1>owe fifty bucks. And it gets to the point where
<v Speaker 1>they go back to the house, their house, and basically
<v Speaker 1>the whole town is outside. Kids are making snowballs, snowball fights.
<v Speaker 1>You know, we got the singers again. Andy invites them
<v Speaker 1>into the house and they're sharing eggnog. So they're going
<v Speaker 1>all out, and it's just funny because they're all doing
<v Speaker 1>this just to get fifty bucks per act of kindness,
<v Speaker 1>and plus with the money that the town is getting
<v Speaker 1>for them to sell the house. I just find it
<v Speaker 1>very amusing. I kind of forgot that there is a
<v Speaker 1>whole Christmas setting to this, and the third act it
<v Speaker 1>does kind of remind you like, oh, if I lived
<v Speaker 1>in a small town, this is exactly how I would
<v Speaker 1>like it to be during the Christmas time. I did
<v Speaker 1>enjoy it, just I did like that third act, how
<v Speaker 1>it kind of plays out, and how even Andy and
<v Speaker 1>Elizabeth have to keep up this front. They really love
<v Speaker 1>it here. They love each other, but unfortunately, due to circumstances,
<v Speaker 1>they have to move.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Absolutely, you know, I'm glad you just covered the
<v Speaker 2>entire third act that now it's interesting. I'm going to
<v Speaker 2>jump to a complaint here again, mister complaints here. Sorry, folks,
<v Speaker 2>that's okay. This entire sequence doesn't actually really kick off
<v Speaker 2>until an hour and twenty one minutes into the film.
<v Speaker 2>There's only twenty minutes remaining in the entire movie, and
<v Speaker 2>this is my favorite part. It feels like this is
<v Speaker 2>when the movie really starts to kick into high gear.
<v Speaker 2>All the high jinks that ensued prior to this were
<v Speaker 2>fun and light and I get it, and it creates
<v Speaker 2>tension and causes obstacles for our protagonists. But because of
<v Speaker 2>the lack of kind of relationship development, either between the
<v Speaker 2>farmers or with the townsfolk, it was just high jinks.
<v Speaker 2>But now this is like an interesting problem where they
<v Speaker 2>do have to directly deal with all of the townsfolk,
<v Speaker 2>almost all at once. Where they're doing this performative bit
<v Speaker 2>embracing this Norman Rockwell lifestyle, and it's wonderful. I love
<v Speaker 2>the holiday spirit, the Christmas spirit, the feel of this
<v Speaker 2>whole thing. Because I grew up in a small town.
<v Speaker 2>I always wanted it to be that way. It did
<v Speaker 2>feel that way in moments, for sure, and I fall
<v Speaker 2>in love with it. And every time I think of
<v Speaker 2>this particular film, Funny Farm, I will think of the
<v Speaker 2>lamb fry scene, and I will think of this entire ending,
<v Speaker 2>and I always feel like it's a bigger part of
<v Speaker 2>the movie, and it really isn't. It's the very end,
<v Speaker 2>but it's so great, and it's very funny because all
<v Speaker 2>these townsfolk, they just want the farmer's money. They're just
<v Speaker 2>doing it for the extra fifty bucks. One scene in
<v Speaker 2>particular I want to call out has to do with
<v Speaker 2>our crazed alcoholic mailman. I assume he's an alcoholic. The
<v Speaker 2>sheriff led better. He does mention that the reason why
<v Speaker 2>the mailman is so angry by the time he reaches
<v Speaker 2>the farmer's household in Red Bud is that he's been
<v Speaker 2>drinking during his whole the mail route, and that he's
<v Speaker 2>good and saucy by the time he gets there and
<v Speaker 2>just honre and so he doesn't even stop to deliver
<v Speaker 2>the mail. He just throws the mail out of the
<v Speaker 2>truck window and keeps driving off, and you kind of
<v Speaker 2>hear his cackle fading off in the distance. And thus
<v Speaker 2>you have Andy standing there next to the mailbox, just
<v Speaker 2>left to pick up the mail off the ground. So
<v Speaker 2>that's a stick that runs throughout the movie. It's a
<v Speaker 2>runner throughout the movie and now here because they've made
<v Speaker 2>this proposal. They're going to pay everyone fifty bucks if
<v Speaker 2>they make an extra effort to be a traditional small town,
<v Speaker 2>the perfect small town in this setting of the Christmas
<v Speaker 2>and feeling all the holidays here while the farmers are
<v Speaker 2>entertaining these prospective buyers of their house and they're all
<v Speaker 2>sitting inside. You see this is great because you see
<v Speaker 2>Andy hear the backfire from the truck approaching the mailman's truck,
<v Speaker 2>and he recognizes it right away and he's like, oh no,
<v Speaker 2>this is going to ruin the whole ruse. If the
<v Speaker 2>mailman comes in or just drives by and is rude
<v Speaker 2>and throwing the mail out the window, it's just going
<v Speaker 2>to show a crack in this whole idea, and he
<v Speaker 2>doesn't want these buyers to see this. But then knock
<v Speaker 2>on the door, ring the door, and Anni Farmer goes
<v Speaker 2>to the door, and there's the mailman, crumb Petree, looking
<v Speaker 2>pretty good, cleaned up. He's wearing his coat, his scarf,
<v Speaker 2>his hat. I think he's got even like a mailman
<v Speaker 2>insigny on his coat. And he's personally brought the mail
<v Speaker 2>to the farmers and steps in and he says, oh,
<v Speaker 2>and by the way, missus Farmer, Missus Petrie, my wife
<v Speaker 2>wanted to give you this. This is her traditional rumnut
<v Speaker 2>plum raisin cake of the season. And then he's introduced
<v Speaker 2>to I think it's the Culbertsons who are these prospective buyers.
<v Speaker 2>By the way, there's recognizable character actors throughout this, and
<v Speaker 2>I think it's Gilpin is his name. I can't remember
<v Speaker 2>that his first name is one of the culbert sins here,
<v Speaker 2>but another recognizable actor in this, and the crumb Peatree
<v Speaker 2>is introduced to them, and now he's all put together
<v Speaker 2>and he seems to be the nicest guy ever and
<v Speaker 2>sober on top of it, and mentions, oh, he's going
<v Speaker 2>to be really sorry to see the farmers go, and
<v Speaker 2>as immediately as he says that, oh, it'll be really
<v Speaker 2>sorry to see the farmers go, he lets out the
<v Speaker 2>most amazing cackle and I won't even try to impersonate it,
<v Speaker 2>but I want to give a shout out to Kevin Conway,
<v Speaker 2>who plays Crumb Petrieck, because I love that cackle. And
<v Speaker 2>then he even pours on a little bit extra here
<v Speaker 2>and says, oh, you know what, later on, I'm just
<v Speaker 2>going to go do some ice fishing, you know. By
<v Speaker 2>the way he's looking at the buyers, he says, you know,
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna pull out some nice sized pike out there
<v Speaker 2>ice fishing, pouring it on thick, just portraying this as
<v Speaker 2>the perfect small town, and then ends up leaving and
<v Speaker 2>to make sure to look at Andy and say, hey,
<v Speaker 2>you're going to be paying me a little extra, you know.
<v Speaker 2>And so I love that because one of the funny
<v Speaker 2>things throughout it is that runner with the mailman blazing
<v Speaker 2>by the mailbox and throwing the mail out, and now
<v Speaker 2>we see him all put together, but he still does
<v Speaker 2>the cackle, and we see him do it in person.
<v Speaker 2>It's great. So I found that very amusing. Also, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I just wanted to back you up on the fact
<v Speaker 2>that when all the krollers go inside the house and
<v Speaker 2>they're all still singing, that they all make that point
<v Speaker 2>to say their full names one by one as they're
<v Speaker 2>exiting to Andy, to make sure he remembers that they
<v Speaker 2>are all individually owed fifty dollars. It's great.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I would say of all the characters, the mailman
<v Speaker 1>does pay off for me because you are interested. In
<v Speaker 1>the beginning, you never see him. You just see the
<v Speaker 1>cars go all by, and you just see the mail
<v Speaker 1>fly and a cackle, and and he becomes obsessed with
<v Speaker 1>trying to get him to stop. At one point tries
<v Speaker 1>to roll a boulder into his mail truck. So then
<v Speaker 1>when he finally comes, there's that comedic tension because you're like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>is he going to screw this up just because he
<v Speaker 1>hates the farmers or we don't even know if he
<v Speaker 1>hates the farmers, he just hates the fact he's got
<v Speaker 1>to drive out there for the mail, so you don't
<v Speaker 1>know what's going to happen. The fact that he's so kind,
<v Speaker 1>you're like, oh, okay, but he has to say something
<v Speaker 1>at the end, like I'm only doing this for the
<v Speaker 1>fifty bucks. The son of a Bitch. I'm out, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it does work for me. I think it's the one
<v Speaker 1>character outside of Andrew Elizabeth that you kind of get to.
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't say no a little bit, but I think
<v Speaker 1>the character overall pays off.
<v Speaker 2>I agree you see at least there's a change in
<v Speaker 2>the character. He almost has a mini arc, if you will,
<v Speaker 2>like a mini mini mini arc. But still it's something.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm glad you highlighted the whole third act, if
<v Speaker 2>you will, because it's a lot of fun and that's
<v Speaker 2>really the highlight of the movie for me. There is
<v Speaker 2>some fun in this. I don't want to be mister
<v Speaker 2>Debbie Dunner either. There is definitely a movie that maybe
<v Speaker 2>you just look back on and it's funnier when you
<v Speaker 2>quote it, almost funnier than when you're watching it.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, So that takes us to Swiss Cheese and Complaints Apartment,
<v Speaker 1>and what don't we call it.
<v Speaker 2>Swiss Cheese because although this movie is delicious, it does
<v Speaker 2>have burnt manuscript holes.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, and if it doesn't have those burnt manuscript holes,
<v Speaker 1>we just file the complaint with the Complaints Apartment. So, Jason,
<v Speaker 1>do you have anything left for Swiss cheese or complaint.
<v Speaker 2>I know, right, Well, let's go back to you briefly
<v Speaker 2>touched on this the title itself. How do we feel
<v Speaker 2>about the title? Funny farm? Terrible, not great? No, it
<v Speaker 2>implies either they're actually living on a farm with crazy
<v Speaker 2>things happening, which is not true, or that it's a
<v Speaker 2>mental asylum with crazy people running around. And yeah, we
<v Speaker 2>have some goofy townspeople, but it's not a mental asylum,
<v Speaker 2>and we get that. Of course, their last names are
<v Speaker 2>they're the farmers, are protagonists, are protagonist couple, But still
<v Speaker 2>it just doesn't ring true the title.
<v Speaker 1>No, And even if you look at either of the posters,
<v Speaker 1>there's the one poster where Chivi Chase has an egg
<v Speaker 1>on his head, nothing like that happens in the movie,
<v Speaker 1>and the other one he's in a tractor with the dog.
<v Speaker 1>At least we have a dog at some point, very briefly.
<v Speaker 1>The first one he buys runs off, which is kind
<v Speaker 1>of funny, but it's very misleading. I don't know what
<v Speaker 1>I would call it, because I'm always terrible when it
<v Speaker 1>comes to titles, but I definitely would not have come
<v Speaker 1>up with plenty farm.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, what do you have.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, my complaint is Andy's treatment of the movers. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>Andy gives them a map of how to get to
<v Speaker 1>the house, so they get lost. So Andy and Elizabeth
<v Speaker 1>have to sleep on the floor one night. Sound like
<v Speaker 1>it's been a couple of days. It's literally one day.
<v Speaker 1>Like my wife and I moved out to California, we
<v Speaker 1>didn't have furniture for four days, but we knew that
<v Speaker 1>going in. Yeah, so I'm like, sleep on the floor
<v Speaker 1>for one night is not going to kill you. And
<v Speaker 1>when they show up, Andy is laying into them hard.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, refund blah blah blah blah, And I'm like, dude,
<v Speaker 1>at least your stuff is there. I'm sure there's tons
<v Speaker 1>of horror stories about movers, and I've read a lot
<v Speaker 1>about it, Like when you're moving and you're researching, that
<v Speaker 1>is a scary thing. There's so many times where you
<v Speaker 1>hear stories about movers who will bring your stuff and say, well,
<v Speaker 1>now you have to pay this charge in order to
<v Speaker 1>get for us to start on loading your stuff. So
<v Speaker 1>the fact that they showed up and started unloading right away,
<v Speaker 1>granted it was going into the lake out back.
<v Speaker 2>I was going to say, another actual fun moment, let's
<v Speaker 2>give credit to that is. I love that moment when
<v Speaker 2>that character one of the movers, is like, immediately they're
<v Speaker 2>unloading the truck after you have Andy like running alongside
<v Speaker 2>the truck as it's pulling in, berating them, and he
<v Speaker 2>just goes straight for like the office chair walks right
<v Speaker 2>and Andy's like, okay, finally you're unloading. You're gonna move
<v Speaker 2>this stuff into our house. And the guy just walks
<v Speaker 2>right by Andy with the chair in hand and throws
<v Speaker 2>it directly into the lake. Really funny.
<v Speaker 1>You're just excited that they showed up and just be like,
<v Speaker 1>oh right, I'd be more curious, like you know what happened?
<v Speaker 1>Are you?
<v Speaker 2>Okay? Yeah, what happened to you? Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So the way he came into them, like, no,
<v Speaker 1>I felt the movers did the right thing. I think
<v Speaker 1>I would have threw his chair in the lake too.
<v Speaker 1>I would give a crap at that point.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, it's funny. There's a funny line earlier than that,
<v Speaker 2>when you see the movers are stuck in the truck overnight.
<v Speaker 2>They have to basically sleep outside. They're in the truck technically,
<v Speaker 2>but one of them says to the other is something
<v Speaker 2>about you need to hold onto that map because I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna need it as evidence as to a murder or
<v Speaker 2>something along the way. He's like, yeah, why, He's like,
<v Speaker 2>because I'm going to kill the son of a bitch
<v Speaker 2>true that map. It's pretty fun anyway, I have some
<v Speaker 2>character issues, motivation issues. There's a couple scenes maybe that'll
<v Speaker 2>explain this. The anniversary evening for the farmers. We know
<v Speaker 2>the lampfry scene right, very amusing, very funny, memorable. But
<v Speaker 2>then they move on to a bungalow where they're going
<v Speaker 2>to spend the evening in just a romantic little bungalow,
<v Speaker 2>and the fireplace is there. It's a beautiful setting here.
<v Speaker 2>And then this is where Andy just turns extremely selfish.
<v Speaker 2>It's the evening of their anniversary, and his gift to
<v Speaker 2>Elizabeth is the fact that he finally finished the first
<v Speaker 2>draft this manuscript of his great novel, which I think
<v Speaker 2>is it called The Big Heist. It sounds right, it
<v Speaker 2>was something like that he called it. It's basically The
<v Speaker 2>Ocean's Eleven Ideas, and he forces Elizabeth to read the
<v Speaker 2>entire draft there that night in front of him, and
<v Speaker 2>it's just kind of like what are you doing? Man?
<v Speaker 2>And I get there's supposed to be some comedy to this, right,
<v Speaker 2>it's a funny thing. But he's just so oblivious to
<v Speaker 2>taking care of It's their anniversary, he should be taking
<v Speaker 2>care of her and thinking about her needs. But he
<v Speaker 2>forces her to read the draft and then that goes
<v Speaker 2>to hell because she hates it, and then he throws
<v Speaker 2>it into the fireplace and then has to try to
<v Speaker 2>save it anyway. After this, then, of course she is
<v Speaker 2>It's revealed that she's been working on her own book,
<v Speaker 2>a children's book, and has completed it, has turned it
<v Speaker 2>into a publisher, and has received five thousand dollars in
<v Speaker 2>a contract to have it published, all these things, and
<v Speaker 2>this sets Andy off. He becomes a jealous jerk, and
<v Speaker 2>he turns into a drunk and then ends up betraying
<v Speaker 2>her and stealing her manuscript and handing it over to
<v Speaker 2>his publisher as if it were his own. And it's
<v Speaker 2>like he really turns into a prick, and that makes
<v Speaker 2>him very unlikable. And what I don't understand Bill, then
<v Speaker 2>is at the end, when we have our beautiful scenic
<v Speaker 2>Christmas seasonal third act, she seems to make a quick
<v Speaker 2>turnaround and I don't understand why he treated her very poorly.
<v Speaker 2>She wants a divorce. They're going to the lawyer, they're
<v Speaker 2>trying to get a divorce, and they're selling the house.
<v Speaker 2>But now because everything looks on the surface so perfect,
<v Speaker 2>because they've paid off the townsfolk, it kind of gives
<v Speaker 2>them this feeling of, oh, now we realize we're in
<v Speaker 2>the right place, we made the right move. This is
<v Speaker 2>so beautiful here and the people are so great. And
<v Speaker 2>now she's back in love with Andy. She's forgiven him.
<v Speaker 2>It seems real quick to me, And I had a big,
<v Speaker 2>big complaint with that. It just made no sense to me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I really didn't like Andy's jealousy towards Elizabeth with
<v Speaker 1>the children's book, and when he says to her, you
<v Speaker 1>know nothing about writing, but then says she's an English teacher.
<v Speaker 1>She seems pretty qualified. Just with that alone, right, And
<v Speaker 1>just because she doesn't like it doesn't mean it's finished, right, Yeah, absolutely,
<v Speaker 1>it's just the first draft. Yeah, so just ask what's
<v Speaker 1>wrong and see what he needs to fix. But he
<v Speaker 1>just goes on this whole ti rate. And then with
<v Speaker 1>the children's book, he gets super upset about that that
<v Speaker 1>didn't work for me. I think at least he comes
<v Speaker 1>to realize he made that mistake. I think with a
<v Speaker 1>Elizabeth because that she didn't like living out there, but
<v Speaker 1>then it inspired her to write that book and maybe
<v Speaker 1>many books in the future. She learns to forgive Andy
<v Speaker 1>for it. But yeah, we don't see it. It just
<v Speaker 1>seems very abrupt because it almost sounds like they don't
<v Speaker 1>want to get divorced because I had to wait till
<v Speaker 1>July and it costs a lot of money because they
<v Speaker 1>don't love each other. And Andy realizes what a dumbass
<v Speaker 1>he was, which he kind of emits at one point,
<v Speaker 1>at least when he has to sleep on the floor
<v Speaker 1>and he says, I basically fuck everything up, right.
<v Speaker 2>That's there's a moment.
<v Speaker 1>And I think that's why people actually like Chase's performance
<v Speaker 1>in this because it's the one time he almost humanizes
<v Speaker 1>himself a little bit.
<v Speaker 2>I see that, Okay, I like that. I like that. Now.
<v Speaker 2>Just going back I think to the overall complaint is
<v Speaker 2>the fact that this entire holiday scene, this Christmas scene,
<v Speaker 2>doesn't start until an hour and twenty minutes into the film,
<v Speaker 2>and it's only an hour and forty minutes forty one
<v Speaker 2>minutes long, so I do appreciate the run time. By
<v Speaker 2>the way, However, structurally I would have liked to see
<v Speaker 2>and I don't mean to rewrite the movie, but I
<v Speaker 2>just would have appreciated less high jinks in the beginning,
<v Speaker 2>maybe only twenty minutes or so, let's get to really
<v Speaker 2>meet some of these townsfolk. But it's very interesting to
<v Speaker 2>me the idea of going to a town where then
<v Speaker 2>all the people that live there are faking it, like
<v Speaker 2>they're really putting on a show, so everything so I
<v Speaker 2>like that idea. There's something about pretending and that everything
<v Speaker 2>being on the surface level everything looks great, but then
<v Speaker 2>finding out that there's more underneath, and that could relate
<v Speaker 2>to also the farmer's relationship when they're moving out there,
<v Speaker 2>pretending as if now we've changed locations and we're in
<v Speaker 2>this beautiful place, everything's going to be great. I will
<v Speaker 2>be inspired to write the perfect book, and she's going
<v Speaker 2>to be the perfect wife, and we're going to have
<v Speaker 2>the most romantic build a family out here, when that's
<v Speaker 2>just not the reality. The reality is life is hard
<v Speaker 2>no matter where you are, and people are quirky and
<v Speaker 2>weird and goofy, and shit happens and we all have
<v Speaker 2>to find a way to get along and prosper together. Right,
<v Speaker 2>So I would have liked to kind of seen that
<v Speaker 2>theme play out, not just in the last twenty minutes,
<v Speaker 2>but throughout three quarters of the movie.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it would be kind of funny if the town
<v Speaker 1>really portrayed this ideal setting and the longer they live
<v Speaker 1>there they start seeing the cracks and just tell everybody
<v Speaker 1>is weird and quirky.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Yeah, for sure. The scene that plays out on
<v Speaker 2>the boat with the fish hook in the neck and
<v Speaker 2>pulling it just was really over the top for me.
<v Speaker 2>It gets like really gaggy, and it's just kind of
<v Speaker 2>I didn't care for that scene that jumped.
<v Speaker 1>That was a little cringe for me. Yeah, that whole
<v Speaker 1>scene doesn't work.
<v Speaker 2>When he's fishing in his own lake behind their beautiful
<v Speaker 2>home and he pulls that giant water snake out, that's
<v Speaker 2>goofy and silly because you can tell it's like a
<v Speaker 2>giant rubber thing that probably comes fright out, but it's
<v Speaker 2>still a little bit of a surprise, And it's kind
<v Speaker 2>of funny because he's a great physical comedian in the
<v Speaker 2>way he reacts to it. It works in that scenario.
<v Speaker 2>But the boat, You're right.
<v Speaker 1>That's the thing. The snake scenario is plausible. You're fishing
<v Speaker 1>in the lake. There's sometimes snakes and lakes. Yeah, But
<v Speaker 1>here it is. You go downtown with your wife. These
<v Speaker 1>guys ask you to go on a fishing trip. It's
<v Speaker 1>not a twenty minute trip. Your wife's going to come
<v Speaker 1>back from the store and go where the hell's my
<v Speaker 1>husband and he's gonna be fishing for the next three
<v Speaker 1>hours or two hours? Why would you agree to go
<v Speaker 1>on the boat?
<v Speaker 2>Mm hmm.
<v Speaker 1>It's just an unplausible scenario. So the rest of it
<v Speaker 1>just doesn't work for Maison Fountain to find it very funny.
<v Speaker 2>All right, I'm gonna stop there.
<v Speaker 1>Time to move on to Hey, it's that actor? All right?
<v Speaker 1>So this segment we spotlight a character actor you have
<v Speaker 1>seen in many other films, an actor making their big
<v Speaker 1>screen debut, or an actor that makes an un ready
<v Speaker 1>to cameo. It's Hey, it's an actor. So who do
<v Speaker 1>we choose this week? Because there are a lot of
<v Speaker 1>choices in this one. I was surprised, Yeah, no kidding.
<v Speaker 2>Every other actor in this is a Hey it's that
<v Speaker 2>actor that's recognizable you're like, Wow, who is he or
<v Speaker 2>she from?
<v Speaker 1>What?
<v Speaker 2>What is that movie that they were in? It's great?
<v Speaker 2>So this week we've chosen for our Hey, it's that actor,
<v Speaker 2>Mike Star, Mike Starr. He plays one of the movers,
<v Speaker 2>and funny enough, the other mover actor actually is a
<v Speaker 2>hey it's that actor too. As soon as I saw him, like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>isn't he the guy driving the black Jack war and speed?
<v Speaker 2>Isn't that that guy?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah? It is?
<v Speaker 2>Yes, Goodwe totally so. But Mike Starr is great, immediately
<v Speaker 2>recognizable American character actor from New York City, standing tall
<v Speaker 2>at six three and a half. Known for playing bullying characters,
<v Speaker 2>he worked as a bouncer and bartender before landing a
<v Speaker 2>small part in the film Cruising in nineteen eighty. As
<v Speaker 2>it goes back to nineteen eighty, he's got two hundred
<v Speaker 2>and forty five credits on IMDb. So yes, Mike Starr
<v Speaker 2>was in Cruising in nineteen eighty. Then he was in
<v Speaker 2>the Natural in eighty four. He's in the Money Pit
<v Speaker 2>in eighty six, looking forward to doing that on this podcast.
<v Speaker 2>He was in a couple episodes of Crime Story in
<v Speaker 2>eighty seven. The film Who's That Girl? With Madonna in
<v Speaker 2>eighty seven, Funny Farm in eighty eight, and Punchline in
<v Speaker 2>eighty eight, Lean On Me in eighty nine, Uncle Buck
<v Speaker 2>as a character called Pooter the Clown in eighty nine,
<v Speaker 2>and then he is briefly featured in Born on the
<v Speaker 2>Fourth of July, also in eighty nine. So here's some
<v Speaker 2>highlights of his After the eighties. He was in Blue Steel,
<v Speaker 2>good Fellas as character Frenchy Miller's crossing Billy Bathgate, free
<v Speaker 2>Jack the Bodyguard, the Hotsucker Proxy, and he has a
<v Speaker 2>great role in ed Wood. That's one film you definitely
<v Speaker 2>would recognize him from. But the film I always associate
<v Speaker 2>him with is Dumb and Dumber. That's what I think of. First,
<v Speaker 2>he plays the character Joe Medalino, and I believe the
<v Speaker 2>big scene with him and Jim Carrey when he's choking
<v Speaker 2>on the hot peppers initially when they're at the diner restaurant,
<v Speaker 2>and then Carrie accidentally feeds him the poison pills as
<v Speaker 2>that's what happens, and then he's like foaming at the mouth.
<v Speaker 1>Mike Stars, Oh, I remember the together the most annoying
<v Speaker 1>sound in the world.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, of course. Yeah, So Mike Starr great, done it.
<v Speaker 2>He does a ton of TV episodes, makes appearances on
<v Speaker 2>a variety of soap opera's Funny Enough and still working.
<v Speaker 2>Has some upcoming projects. Love Mike stars, great character actor.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's funny. When you were listing off his credits,
<v Speaker 1>I was like, oh, yep, I remember what seeing he said,
<v Speaker 1>Oh yep, I could see it as clear as today.
<v Speaker 1>If you asked me before to name I'm like, I
<v Speaker 1>can't name anything outside Dumb and Dumber. But as soon
<v Speaker 1>as you're saying the credits, I'm like, oh, yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>remember what's seen yous in that movie. So yeah, definitely
<v Speaker 1>an excellent choice for Hey, it's that actor.
<v Speaker 2>Just gonna give it a couple of shout outs to
<v Speaker 2>some other Hey it's that actors, because I was trying
<v Speaker 2>to remember this gentleman's name. He plays one of the Culbertson's,
<v Speaker 2>the prospective buyers of the Farmer's house. That was Jack Gilpin,
<v Speaker 2>very recognizable. I believe it's Alice Drummond who plays Ethel
<v Speaker 2>Dingis or Dingus who has the antique store. She's very recognizable. Yep,
<v Speaker 2>there you go. There's more that I'm missing here. Oh
<v Speaker 2>who is it that plays the lawyer. He was very
<v Speaker 2>recognizable to Michael.
<v Speaker 1>Oh no, it's thinking of the publisher guy, Michael Sinclair.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah he too, Yeah sure, yeah, anyway, he watched
<v Speaker 2>the movie a lot of recognizable faces. So I apologize
<v Speaker 2>for not naming all the actors here, but we got
<v Speaker 2>to move along.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, many, many all right, Time to move on to
<v Speaker 1>facts and trivia. What are some facts of trivia we
<v Speaker 1>have about Funny Farm.
<v Speaker 2>The film was mostly shot in southeastern Vermont, including the
<v Speaker 2>towns of Windsor, Vermont and Townshend, Vermont, and they were
<v Speaker 2>using locals as extras. This is from IMDb. By the way,
<v Speaker 2>the Townshend Common, the Townshend Common area today has an
<v Speaker 2>unusual souvenir from the production of Funny Farm, because to
<v Speaker 2>make the trees on the common look as if it
<v Speaker 2>was mid autumn, the film crew dyed the leaves, which
<v Speaker 2>killed all the trees except for one in the middle
<v Speaker 2>of the common. Today, the ring of newly planted trees
<v Speaker 2>around the edge of the common are significantly shorter than
<v Speaker 2>the much larger one that survived the filming of Funny Farm.
<v Speaker 1>Whoops, yeah right, oops, see so this was interesting. You know,
<v Speaker 1>who is supposed to be in this movie. Jason tell
<v Speaker 1>me Bill band Sarah Michelle Geller was he supposed to
<v Speaker 1>play one of Elizabeth's students in an early scene in
<v Speaker 1>the movie.
<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, Well that would make sense because I'm like
<v Speaker 2>she had been very young at that time. Yea.
<v Speaker 1>So unfortunately that scene was to lead it and I
<v Speaker 1>couldn't find it anywhere. M Yeah, I think that would
<v Speaker 1>have been one of her first credits.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no kidding.
<v Speaker 1>Things turned out okay for her, she did.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 1>So Ivy's Cafe where Andy eats lamb fries was not
<v Speaker 1>in fact an actual restaurant. It was a set built
<v Speaker 1>in Townsend, Vermont, specifically for the film, and was destroyed
<v Speaker 1>after filming goes over. The site of the set is
<v Speaker 1>now occupied by residential homes which are across the street
<v Speaker 1>from the gazebo in Townshend where Andy is seen running
<v Speaker 1>to the softball game while Elizabeth goes antique shopping.
<v Speaker 2>This Funny Farm was the first of three consecutive movie
<v Speaker 2>adaptations of Jay Cronley novels in three consecutive years. The
<v Speaker 2>subsequent adaptations were Let It Ride in eighty nine, one
<v Speaker 2>of my cult favorites, and another cult favorite quick Change
<v Speaker 2>in nineteen ninety. We'll have to save that one for
<v Speaker 2>the All Nineties Movies podcast. Yes, love both those movies.
<v Speaker 2>I'm a big fan of Let It Rite.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, we know that one for sure.
<v Speaker 2>It was a rough year at the box office for
<v Speaker 2>mister Chevy Chase. So yeah, this was one of two
<v Speaker 2>nineteen eighty eight movies starring Chase. The other was Caddyshack two.
<v Speaker 2>I guess they're saying, well, Funny Farm was a minor hit. Well,
<v Speaker 2>Caddyshak two was a box office bomb, but Chase also
<v Speaker 2>cameoed in the box office bomb The Couch Trip of
<v Speaker 2>the same year in eighty eight.
<v Speaker 1>Ooh, yeah, tough year for him. So the kid who
<v Speaker 1>steals the street sign at the beginning of the movie
<v Speaker 1>was an extra from Windsor High School, where a fair
<v Speaker 1>amount of the filming takes place. He had not becoming
<v Speaker 1>a local cop.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I had that too, that's funny. Last one I
<v Speaker 2>got here real quick bill is the four thousand dollars
<v Speaker 2>bill for Claude Musselman's funeral. That's the the casket with
<v Speaker 2>the bones that was dug up in the farmer's backyard.
<v Speaker 2>That was claud Musselman in there. The four thousand dollars
<v Speaker 2>bill for Claude Musselman's funeral would equate to a little
<v Speaker 2>over eleven thousand dollars in twenty twenty five. Ouch, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>chuck a change, all right.
<v Speaker 1>Moving on to box office, so, Funny Farm was released
<v Speaker 1>on June third, nineteen eighty eight, in one thousand, five
<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty seven theaters with an estimated budget of
<v Speaker 1>nineteen million. Bunny Farm pulled in twenty five point five
<v Speaker 1>million domestically. The film debuted number four at the box office,
<v Speaker 1>behind Big, which also opened that week in less theaters,
<v Speaker 1>and Funny Farm would only last another three weeks in
<v Speaker 1>the top ten and would be the thirty ninth highest
<v Speaker 1>grossing movie of nineteen eighty eight, just ahead of Alien Nation,
<v Speaker 1>which we covered back in season four.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah going against Big, that's tough.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, who knew, right? Moving on to reviews. When growing
<v Speaker 1>up in the eighties, we would watch at the movies
<v Speaker 1>with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert to hear the reviews
<v Speaker 1>and watch clips of upcoming movies. Their review of Funny
<v Speaker 1>Farm was unanimous two thumbs up. Ebert described the film
<v Speaker 1>as one of the year's Funniest Movies, while Ciskel called
<v Speaker 1>it the best chase film his made. Together, Ciskel and
<v Speaker 1>Ebert praised the film for its abundance of laugh out
<v Speaker 1>loud moments, sharp direction, striking cinematography, and precise editing to
<v Speaker 1>consistently end scenes at the perfect moment.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, no kidding, You know it's funny Bilt because I
<v Speaker 2>left out one piece of trivia here and I'll just
<v Speaker 2>put it appropriately in this segment. Gene Siskel said he
<v Speaker 2>received the most complaints from Ciskel and Ebert viewers for
<v Speaker 2>recommending this film. So the viewers the audience did not
<v Speaker 2>agree with Ciskel and Ebert's very positive outlook on this film.
<v Speaker 1>So Rotten Tomatoes gives it a Tomato Meter score of
<v Speaker 1>sixty four percent, with the Popcorn Meter score of fifty
<v Speaker 1>one percent, and also has an IMDb rating of six
<v Speaker 1>point two. So that takes us to additional thoughts and questions.
<v Speaker 1>What are some additional thoughts and questions you have about
<v Speaker 1>Funny Farm?
<v Speaker 2>Did you have a question right off the.
<v Speaker 1>Top, Jason, what is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
<v Speaker 1>That is great?
<v Speaker 2>Oh gosh, I wish I could remember I was on
<v Speaker 2>a cruise ship and we went to a restaurer was
<v Speaker 2>a great like themed restaurant. I want to say. It
<v Speaker 2>had an Alison Wonderland theme. And there were some really
<v Speaker 2>strange dishes they were serving and I can't think of them.
<v Speaker 2>It was just interesting recipes and you wouldn't think to
<v Speaker 2>put this with that, but it paired nicely and it
<v Speaker 2>was very tasty. And now I can't think of any
<v Speaker 2>of those items. I just I can tell you this much.
<v Speaker 2>I'll never forget the first time I tried octopus a
<v Speaker 2>sushi restaurant. I know that's not weird for a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people, but it was for me because I had
<v Speaker 2>never had sushi and this was my first time ever.
<v Speaker 2>And this was in Miami, and I remember Craig Rose
<v Speaker 2>being there and he's like, oh, yeah, I try this
<v Speaker 2>octopus and I'm chewing on a tentacle with the suckers
<v Speaker 2>on it, and I'm like, this is not for me.
<v Speaker 2>This is definitely not for me. I wasn't going to
<v Speaker 2>break any record eating the most amount of octopus in
<v Speaker 2>one sitting. However, Yeah, I'll have to think about that
<v Speaker 2>and see if I can come up with something else.
<v Speaker 2>But the weirdest strangest thing I've ever eaten. What do
<v Speaker 2>you have for this?
<v Speaker 1>I think my number one would be jellyfish?
<v Speaker 2>Okay, wow, just because the.
<v Speaker 1>Connotation of jellyfish is stinging and stuff like that. Where
<v Speaker 1>did you have jellyfish in Hong Kong? Okay?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>And it's very chewy and not much flavor to be honest,
<v Speaker 1>so I don't think you have to try. But yeah,
<v Speaker 1>when they put it at our table, I was the
<v Speaker 1>only one that would try it. I'm like, what's the
<v Speaker 1>worst it going to happen?
<v Speaker 2>That just makes me think of when you hear the
<v Speaker 2>nightmare stories about is it puffer fish? Oh?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the.
<v Speaker 2>Very poisonous if you get the wrong Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Just looks like a giant piece of gelatine. Just but yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I was super chewy. Second, I would go with cow's tongue. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>I can't remember where I had that at, but we
<v Speaker 1>were at there was a bunch of us and we
<v Speaker 1>were at a deli and they were serving it and
<v Speaker 1>everyone was daring each other to try it, and I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>I'll try it.
<v Speaker 2>Actually wasn't bad. There you go, tastes like chicken. Just kidding.
<v Speaker 1>No, Well, the third thing people say taste like chicken
<v Speaker 1>A lot alligator of course. H down in South Florida,
<v Speaker 1>I would say that's very close to chicken. So maybe
<v Speaker 1>people would be like, no, dude, you actually ate chicken.
<v Speaker 1>They just said it was alligator, But no, I think
<v Speaker 1>it was alligator.
<v Speaker 2>This was my mom. That would be my big three
<v Speaker 2>Great stuff. Man, Bill Bant, you're a writer. Sometimes I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna ask maybe a few questions regarding this, and you're
<v Speaker 2>you're writing relationship with your wife, Hillary the Lovely Hillary Band.
<v Speaker 2>Have you ever had her read something of yours to
<v Speaker 2>give you feedback and how have you reacted to this feedback?
<v Speaker 2>Have you ever had to react to perhaps negative feedback
<v Speaker 2>as Andy Farmer has to deal with from Elizabeth in
<v Speaker 2>this film.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, that's a good question. There's definitely some things I've
<v Speaker 1>given her to read. I don't think she's ever given
<v Speaker 1>like pure negative feedback like Elizabeth did. But yeah, sometimes
<v Speaker 1>she'll have questions and I'll have to answer or constructive criticism,
<v Speaker 1>which I think most of the times warned because maybe
<v Speaker 1>something's not explained correctly, so I have to go back
<v Speaker 1>and fix it.
<v Speaker 2>So you do share your writing with her when it
<v Speaker 2>comes to your Yeah, on occasion like screenplays. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>not talking novels here, of course, we're taking more like
<v Speaker 2>writreen writing. Yeah, okay, okay, Because I was just going
<v Speaker 2>to ask, then, what how would you feel if Hillary
<v Speaker 2>wrote a screenplay and managed selling it for a million dollars?
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't care.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you'd love it? Yeah, exactly, you are. Bill Bant
<v Speaker 2>doesn't get jealous for.
<v Speaker 1>A million dollars. I'm not gonna tell.
<v Speaker 2>You be like, way to be Hillary, keep writing?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, god, one thousand dollars, I'd be excited.
<v Speaker 2>I'm just going to keep rolling with this writing theme
<v Speaker 2>that I just was in my head about, just because
<v Speaker 2>I always I am curious with other writers, you know,
<v Speaker 2>as to their process. Right. So Andy and Elizabeth they
<v Speaker 2>move out to this beautiful country and Vermont, and that's
<v Speaker 2>where he feels he will find his inspiration, find the
<v Speaker 2>the space and the time to pursue his novel. What's
<v Speaker 2>your great What's what's your preferred creative space? Bill Bant
<v Speaker 2>is a writer, what's your ideal space to work in?
<v Speaker 1>I don't think I have it right now? Pretty much
<v Speaker 1>whatever the house I can find. Yeah, yeah, so if
<v Speaker 1>I had the perfect setting, it would be like a
<v Speaker 1>house over looking the beach. Yeah, that would be it.
<v Speaker 1>I mean the countryside's cute with the bird out there.
<v Speaker 1>But I always thought about it if I had the money,
<v Speaker 1>if I was really successful, I'd want some beachfront property
<v Speaker 1>and I'd be sitting by a huge window overlooking the beach.
<v Speaker 2>There you go. Yeah, it's similar. I mean it's similar
<v Speaker 2>to this film. Similar to you, I would I'd be
<v Speaker 2>up in the mountains. I'd have a cabin in the mountains.
<v Speaker 2>I'd like the rural setting. I'd like that type of scenery. Also,
<v Speaker 2>I really love my quiet. I need the quiet, which
<v Speaker 2>is interesting. It's changed over the years where I used
<v Speaker 2>to always be listening to music, and I still very
<v Speaker 2>very much thousand percent need music as inspiration. I have
<v Speaker 2>to have my music. But I used to listen to
<v Speaker 2>music a lot while I was writing, versus now I
<v Speaker 2>think I really just treasure the silence.
<v Speaker 1>So it's funny you brought this up about the money
<v Speaker 1>with the equivalent nowadays. But I wanted to know how
<v Speaker 1>much it was going to cost Andy and Elizabeth today
<v Speaker 1>if they tried that with the thifty dollars. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so yeah, that equiveland today would be one hundred and
<v Speaker 1>thirty six rounded up one hundred and thirty seven dollars
<v Speaker 1>they would have to give each townfolk for kindness today's dollars.
<v Speaker 2>I also was wondering just guestimating how many townsfolk there were?
<v Speaker 2>How many people? I mean, what was the population of Redbud? Like, right,
<v Speaker 2>you think they probably had to pay like fifty people,
<v Speaker 2>seventy five more?
<v Speaker 1>Oh, I would say over one hundred.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there was a lot, a lot of people participating,
<v Speaker 2>that's for sure.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I think I would have started around the ten
<v Speaker 1>dollars mark, Yeah, start low. Last thing for me, I
<v Speaker 1>found this very interesting and it certainly made a lot
<v Speaker 1>of Smith sense. So Madeline Smith was actually the first
<v Speaker 1>choice to replace Shelley Longlan cheers no kidding. Yeah, but
<v Speaker 1>supposedly she has health issues which kind of prevented her
<v Speaker 1>from taking the role. Huh when you think about it,
<v Speaker 1>you know, then they picked uh Cursty Allie. Yeah. I
<v Speaker 1>wanted to make sure I said it right. Christi Ali,
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, oh, it makes sense. They look almost alike.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, Bill, this is great. I could totally see Madeline
<v Speaker 2>Smith in that part. Yes, thousand, absolutely, she would have
<v Speaker 2>been great. Yeah, yeah, she would have been excellent on cheers.
<v Speaker 2>I think I think she had some comedic chops in
<v Speaker 2>this movie. She's pretty funny in her delivery. I thought
<v Speaker 2>I thought she was good. Yeah, I said serviceable earlier,
<v Speaker 2>and that sounds as though it's a ding, but it's
<v Speaker 2>not really. I think she was good in this agreed. Well,
<v Speaker 2>I didn't really have anything else for thoughts or questions,
<v Speaker 2>not as of now.
<v Speaker 1>Let's move on to rating then. All right, all right,
<v Speaker 1>so here we go on a scale of one to
<v Speaker 1>five lamb Fries. What do you give funny Farm?
<v Speaker 2>So I'm going to surprise our listeners here a little bit.
<v Speaker 2>I'm kind of in a because of the I do
<v Speaker 2>love the ending, and I do have a nostalgic attachment
<v Speaker 2>to this film, and I do still look upon it
<v Speaker 2>overall fondly. I I'm going to give it three lamb Fries.
<v Speaker 2>I may begrudgingly maybe have to downgrade it to two
<v Speaker 2>point five that was my initial lamb Fry rating, but
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to give it three because I'm feeling positive
<v Speaker 2>and upbeat today. I have to say it's a little
<v Speaker 2>wild to think that the director of Butch Casside and
<v Speaker 2>The Sun Dance Kid made this movie and went safe
<v Speaker 2>with it doing this version because the book was not
<v Speaker 2>as safe, and that's what Jeffery Bowe wanted to do.
<v Speaker 2>But anyway, this is George broy Hill's vision of it,
<v Speaker 2>so it was, yeah, I agree with you, Bill, fine safe.
<v Speaker 2>I just felt like the development, especially at the end
<v Speaker 2>of the relationship between Andy and Elizabeth, wasn't fully fleshed out.
<v Speaker 2>I wished the obstacles with it of their relationship, the
<v Speaker 2>writing and the betrayal and stuff had happened sooner and
<v Speaker 2>that we could have gotten to the good stuff this
<v Speaker 2>Norman Rockwell Christmas painting of Red Bud. I wished all
<v Speaker 2>that had happened sooner in the films because that was
<v Speaker 2>the most fun. But chevy Chase, he's fun to watch.
<v Speaker 2>He might you know why chevy Chase. He reminds me
<v Speaker 2>of my dad. And I'm not you know, I'm not
<v Speaker 2>at all talking about chevy Chase is off screen persona
<v Speaker 2>or the things that say this is strictly the chevy
<v Speaker 2>Chase characters that he portrays, particularly Clark Griswold and National Lampoons.
<v Speaker 2>Just the always like kind of a gentle giant, tall,
<v Speaker 2>handsome guy that's always positive, always has an idea of
<v Speaker 2>things to do in itinerary, a plan and goals and
<v Speaker 2>things like that, and just wants to enjoy the outdoors
<v Speaker 2>and travel and all these things. That's my dad. And
<v Speaker 2>he's goofy and he's silly too, and he has silly
<v Speaker 2>jokes and things. So I do appreciate Chevy Chase characters
<v Speaker 2>for that because those characters he portrays remind me of
<v Speaker 2>my dad in the best possible way. So he's good
<v Speaker 2>in this. I didn't think. This is not Fletch, it's
<v Speaker 2>not National Lampoon, it's not Candy Shack. But he's good.
<v Speaker 2>I found the chemistry between him and Madeline Smith fine
<v Speaker 2>and good, and yeah, I would still. I think you
<v Speaker 2>said this earlier too, Bill, so to reiterate, if you
<v Speaker 2>come across this, give it a watch, give it a watch.
<v Speaker 2>It's feel good at the end. So I'm gonna give
<v Speaker 2>it three lamp fries.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm with you. I originally wrote three, and then
<v Speaker 1>we're going through the podcast, I'm like, do I need
<v Speaker 1>to knock this down to two right that half? But no,
<v Speaker 1>I think I'm gonna keep it at three because I
<v Speaker 1>do laugh. It does make me smile. But when you, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>break it down, there's a lot of flaws. It's just
<v Speaker 1>a weird thing. It's like, if you never see the movie,
<v Speaker 1>you'll be okay. But I think if you watch it,
<v Speaker 1>you'll enjoy it. It's not a must watch if you're
<v Speaker 1>gonna watch Chevy Chase movies. Yeah, this is probably the
<v Speaker 1>fifth or sixth to one I'm gonna list. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you're not missing anything, but it won't hurt to watch it.
<v Speaker 1>And uh yeah, I've watched a ton of times. I
<v Speaker 1>was still enjoying it. It goes by quick. Yeah, but yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you're right. That ending scene, Yeah, I wish that did
<v Speaker 1>play a little bit longer, well said. Okay, that about
<v Speaker 1>wraps up for this episode. As always, we appreciate you
<v Speaker 1>tuning in. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite
<v Speaker 1>streaming platform, leave your rating, and then drop us a review,
<v Speaker 1>hopefully positive one. I want to know more about our show,
<v Speaker 1>of course you do. Head over to All Eightiesmovies podcast
<v Speaker 1>dot com. We hopefully join us next time as we
<v Speaker 1>dive into another classic from the greatest movie decade ever
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighties. Till then, stay cool. We have an
<v Speaker 1>excellent to everyone.
<v Speaker 2>As a novelist. I turned out to be a pretty
<v Speaker 2>good sports writer. Thanks for staying up with us. Goodnight World,