A Ovelha Negra

Hmm, I remember watching this movie a while back...and I must say it is STILL one of the few movies I ever just refused to finish...I looked at the clock and there was half an hour left and I was not gonna make it...think I stopped it when they were near some trailer...I can remember ONE good scene in it..where Farley says "Kill Whitey!!"..that was funny..but was this movie up to Tommy Boy standards?? Oh god no...not even CLOSE...and you thought Tommy Boy had little plot?? Look at THIS movie, it doesn't even have one, I refuse to believe it does...I was just shaking my head the whole time, because I had actually heard this movie was FUNNY...imagine my surprise...the whole fiasco in the cabin?? Not amusing...more or less stupid...I'll go with the more option there...anyways if anybody out there hasn't seen this yet...save yourself an hour and a half and don't bother.

I first watched this comedy starring Chris Farley (as Mike Donnelly) a couple years ago. By that time, I had seen "Tommy Boy" and "Beverly Hills Ninja" (two other comedies starring Chris Farley), and after watching all three of these movies, I think I liked them all to some degree. However, after watching them all again recently, I think "Tommy Boy" is the only one that's really decent. "Black Sheep", the second of the three, is slightly better than BHN, but that doesn't mean it's very good.

Mike Donnelly is the younger brother of Al, who is running for Washington State Governor. Unfortunately, although Mike means well, he is very clumsy, and often unintentionally gets into trouble. This lowers the chances of Al winning the election, and it doesn't help that his opponent, Gov. Tracy, is exploiting Mike's uncouth tendencies by having pictures taken of him that make him look like a criminal! Al assigns Steve Dodds, one of his campaign aides, to make sure Mike doesn't cause any trouble during the election. Mike and Steve go to stay in a cabin in a rural area, and keeping Mike out of trouble turns out to be a difficult job for Steve. In addition to that, the two find that staying in this cabin isn't always easy.

As you can tell by the plot, Chris Farley plays a well-meaning but clumsy, uncouth loony, as usual. You can also expect a lot of slapstick from this movie. However, as much as I usually love slapstick, I can tell when it's done well and when it's not. Sadly, "Black Sheep" is a case of slapstick done poorly. The gags are usually very simple and often lame. For example, with Mike sleeping on the top bunk in the cabin and Steve sleeping on the bottom as the roof blows off during a storm, despite how long Mike lies there, putting a lot of weight on the mattress, it's so obvious that he will eventually fall on Steve, and when it happens, it's not funny. Now, some parts did make me smile or snicker slightly, such as Mike freaking out over the dogs chasing his truck, Steve whacking Mike repeatedly with a broom to try and kill a bat, and Al seeing his brother on TV at the rock-the-vote concert, making a fool of himself, but all this is not enough.

Like "Tommy Boy", Chris Farley and David Spade co-starred in this film, and it isn't surprising that many fans of the 1995 comedy have been disappointed by this 1996 follow-up. Personally, I don't think "Tommy Boy" is a masterpiece, but it's reasonable. "Black Sheep", however, while not quite as unfunny as "Beverly Hills Ninja", the Chris Farley movie that followed, is mediocre overall. It has been nearly ten years since Chris Farley's tragic death, but he made many people laugh during his career, and continues to do so today. The best thing to remember him for is probably the classic "Saturday Night Live" sketches he was in, but clearly, "Black Sheep" is not something to remember him for.

Reviews of this film were less than favourable but since I enjoyed the Farley/Spade partnership so much in Tommy Boy I thought I would check this one out as well.

Farley does alot of falling over and generally self abuse in this one, for instance when he tumbles down a mountain side and then gets up and says "What was that all about?".

The bit where the bunk bed collapses on top of Spade during the hail storm and the "Power to the People" speech at the rock concert are hilarious.

Most viewed this film as inane and childish - one reviewer I distinctly remember said that he would rather have Des O'Connor sing him the phone book than watch this again - but I found myself laughing many times.

Very well done. I enjoyed this movie a lot. Some parts could have been done better but overall I enjoyed it and enjoy watching it anytime I can. Must see for all of those that can just lay back and have fun.

Black Sheep is one of the two films in which Chris Farley stars alongside the constant sarcasm of David Spade (the other being Tommy Boy, which is almost as funny), and the results are childish but endlessly amusing. Farley plays Mike Donnelly, the younger and nuttier brother of Al Donnelly, who is campaigning to be governor of Washington. Mike's seemingly constant screw-ups, which cause serious havoc during his brother's campaign, provide for the majority of the comedy in the film. There can be no mistake that this is entirely slapstick comedy, but it succeeds very well because Farley can pull it off so well. The hopelessly geeky Spade balances out Farley's hyper-activity with his collected but nerdy performance, leaving us with an odd couple that could be called a slightly less mature version of that of the late Walter Matthou and the later Jack Lemmon (a moment of silence for Matthou, Lemmon, and Farley, would be in order about now…).

It is strange that such an immature film could deal so extensively with a relatively serious subject as politics and still manage to keep the slapstick successful, especially since there are moments of real emotion in the film. Gary Busey appears in a small but very effective and amusing role as Sgt. Drake Savage, a military-minded guy who ultimately seems to have a heart of gold. The interactions between him and Spade are some of the funniest moments in the film, along with the constant humor that seems to always be emanating from Farley. The cabin scene with Mike and Steve (Spade) is especially amusing ("I got dibs on top bunk!").

I am not going to attempt to say that Black Sheep is a truly intellectual film, nor is there anything particularly amazing about the script or direction, but the comedy is excellent, there can be no mistake about that. I mean, Tommy Boy and other movies, like Major Payne, are no cerebral workouts either, but the comedy is there. That's the reason to watch these movies, and to their credit, you can tell that just by looking at the cover. You probably won't learn anything or see the portrayal of many serious issues in a movie like Black Sheep, but you will laugh heartily and you will remember it for that.