TMS 30 Greatest Movies: #27 Tommy Boy

Title: Tommy Boy
Year: 1995
Genre: Comedy
Main Actors: Chris Farley, David Spade, Brian Dennehy, Rob Lowe, Bo Derek, Dan Aykroyd
Ranked: Dave Thomas #4, Daft Funk #21

Synopsis
Tommy Callahan Jr. (Farley) returns to his hometown of Sandusky, Ohio after finally graduating from college to work at his father's auto parts factory. Big Tom (Dennehy) shows Tommy the new state of the art brake pad division and surprises him with the news that he's getting married to a much younger woman. Sadly, his dad suffers a fatal heart attack during the reception leaving the future of the company in Tommy's hands. With the future of the company and everyone that works there resting on success of the new brake pads, Tommy and Richard (Spade), Big Tom's right-hand man and former high school classmate of Tommy, hit the road and try to sell enough to save the day.

Reasons This Movie Kicks Ass
Where to begin? Chris Farley is what makes this movie. There was a time that any SNL alum could put Farley in their movie, and it would become an instant classic (Wayne's World, Billy Madison, Dirty Work, etc. Hell, even Coneheads was decent). But what really makes this movie kick ass is Farley's pairing with David Spade. Farley takes care of all the physical humor, and Spade fires off stinging one-liners for 90 minutes. When you also factor in that this movie covers fat jokes ("Fat guy in a little coat!"), masturbation jokes (Spanktravision, anyone?), incest jokes ("Ewww...doin' his mommy..."), this movie really does have something for everyone. And by "everyone" I mean males 13-25.

Everyone knows that one of the biggest reasons that this movie kicks ass is because it's chock full of quotes that can be used in everyday situations. Need to see if that stall in the men's room is occupied? A simple rap on the door with a well-timed "Housekeeping?" should do the trick. One of your friends say something that doesn't quite make sense? "What was that? You're trailing off. And did I hear a "niner" in there? Were you calling from a walkie talkie?"

And the single greatest thing that this film taught me? It's ok for 2 guys to sing The Carpenters together on a long roadtrip.

Monster Role
While Spade delivers a number of memorable lines, again there's no question that Farley makes this movie a classic. I can launch into the "Here comes the meat wagon" speech or start singing fat guy in a little coat and everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about. I think it's pretty much required to run through the housekeeping bit every time you stay in a hotel. Maybe I can put it best in the words of a timeless song.

Como una promesa, eres tú, eres tú.
Como una mañana de verano.
Como una sonrisa, eres tú, eres tú.
Así, así, eres tú.

Make Your Weiner Tingle Moment
This is next to impossible to choose, but narrowly beating out "Fat guy in a little coat" (too short) and the deer coming back to life in the back of the car (another instant classic) is the part when Tommy steps in to help Richard sell some break pads using some model cars, a.k.a. the "Truck Tire" scene. If you didn't laugh to yourself just now at the mere mention of that scene, it's time to go buy a sense of humor. Holy shit, is there a funnier 45 seconds in history? Going from trying to sell break pads to setting fires on an office desk and destroying property in under a minute? Classic.

Watch this movie if you like...
Clip-on ties, cow tipping, bees, talking into fans, thin candy shells