Funny Farm

Every comedic actor who had a successful car accident had their A-tier movies and their B-tier movies. That B-tier is (usually) perfectly fine but also perfectly forgettable. John Candy had Spaceballs and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, but he also had Volunteers and Summer Rental. Dan Aykroyd had Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers, but he also had Doctor Detroit and The Couch Trip. Chevy Chase had Caddyshack and Vacation. You should be able to deduce where Funny Farm ranks. It’s a standard fish out of water story. Chevy Chase plays the same well-meaning, klutzy every-man he plays in most every movie. The wife is the same beleaguered wife you see in all these movies. Slapstick, misunderstands, preposterous and unrealistic situations leading to similar punchlines, it’s all here. Plenty of movies do it better, and plenty do it worse. This does it just fine enough to make you feel like you didn’t waste 100 minutes, even if it won’t leave you splitting your sides. It won’t have a chance of standing next to Vacation on a DVD shelf, but it also wasn’t designed to. It is what it is, and sometimes, that’s okay.