Tommy Boy: Holy Schnike Edition DVD Review:

When an onscreen couple work well together, whether it be romantic or as a comedic duo, audiences recognize them together. Doris Day and Rock Hudson made a remarkably small amount of films together compared to the actual amount of time they are spoken about as a pair. While I am aware of the differences, Chris Farley and David Spade had the same sort of connection. Although they made only a few films together many of us lump them together when thinking of the films they did make. The quintessential Farley/Spade film was actually their first; Tommy Boy. This is the film which has been quoted and watched so many times that I would even say that it has become a borderline cult hit, so the idea of releasing a special edition, or Holy Schnike Edition, is one that should be very pleasing to many fans.

Tommy Boy is essentially just a road trip buddy comedy. Spade and Farley are two traveling salesmen on the road attempting to save the family business. There isn’t a whole lot else within the story, but thanks to the great comedic timing and chemistry, not much else was needed to make the film work. There are more mishaps than any normal person would be able to stand, including the many car problems, but while watching Chris Farley and David Spade in the situation it somehow becomes irresistible.

Although it has been ten years since the film was made there seems to be no shortage of material for this two-disc package. The first disc contains the film in all of its glory and a commentary track with director Peter Segal. The second disc has four featurettes, seven storyboard comparisons, five deleted scenes, fifteen extended scenes, six alternate takes, nineteen TV spots, a photo gallery, a gag reel, and a theatrical trailer.

The first of the four featurettes is Tommy Boy: Behind the Laughter, an in depth thirty minute featurette with interviews from all of the key players in the making of the film discussing the production and cast choices from start to finish. The second featurette is Stories from the Side of the Road, which gives insight to little details which ended up making the film what it is. Some of the stories are amazing because of how much seemed to change on set. This featurette is around thirteen minutes long. The third featurette, Just the Two of Us, is a fun little ten minute featurette about the relationship that Spade and Farley had from the first time they worked together. There are also comments about the two of them from other cast members. The last featurette is Growing up Farley, which has interviews with Chris’s brothers about their childhood with the famed SNL star.

Much of the package seems well put together, with great new artwork for the cover and a creative set of menus, but somehow a few details seem to have been forgotten. With a great two disc set like this, which even has a great cardboard foldout cover that has a map of the road trip featured in the film, I can’t understand why there wasn’t an insert with chapter stops. Although it certainly is a small detail, it is one that is almost always expected of DVDs of this caliber. The other detail I found to be less than great was the artwork on the discs themselves. They are cartoon caricatures of Spade and Farley, but the graphics seem cheap and photocopied.

These little details are small in comparison to the many fun and great things that this package has to offer. I have no doubt that many fans of this film will not be disappointed by the effort which has gone into releasing this silly comic classic on special edition DVD.



Ryan Izay