By When I went into I Am Chris Farley, I couldn’t have honestly said that I was a fan of his work. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I didn’t know it particularly well. I’d seen some stuff over the years, but I missed his tenure on SNL and what I think of as the Classics aren’t the films he was in (though I want to go back and see them now). He was big, funny, and died too young like so many other big and funny SNL comedians. That’s really what I remembered. But I wanted to watch the documentary to see what I was missing, because I knew I was missing something.
I was right. I was missing a whole lot. And as soon as the credits rolled, I headed over to the SNL digital archives to watch some of those old sketches. Now I can honestly say that I am a Chris Farley fan.
I Am Chris Farley
Directors: Derik Murray & Brent Hodge
Release Date: August 11, 2015 (VOD & DVD)
Rating: NR
I Am Chris Farley is an interesting mix of interviews and video clips, most of which appear to have been ripped from VHS tapes. They span his time at Second City all the way through his various film appearances. It periodically cuts to an interview with David Letterman which is probably supposed to be representative of his success… but looking at his eyes, I only saw fear.
The bulk of the film is made up of interviews. School friends, family, other actors. Big names, small names, no names. There were so many of them that I often forgot who the smaller names were. It seems to be intended for TV (made by Spike), as every so often it decides to reintroduce them with new title cards. Every 20-30 minutes or so, after they’re back from the commercial break. I wish they’d done that more, honestly. But at some point, it didn’t matter if that was the guy who was with him at Second City or the one who played Rugby. They’re not there to serve themselves. They’re there to help document Chris Farley.
The whole thing is pretty straightforward. It starts with his youth and ends with his death. We’re walked through the kind of person he was and the near-inevitability that he would end up a star. He was the entertainer, always looking for the spotlight. Of course he was. He was Chris Freaking Farley. And, as I sort of knew but very clearly learned, he was really flipping funny. But even if you know that, there’s a lot of interesting stuff to be gleaned from these interviews. He used to be a jock, for example, super into football and rugby. He was an excellent improvisor but he never wrote any of the sketches he was in. He was the mold that everyone else used to make beautiful sketch sculptures. And oh what a mold he was.
You could argue that I Am Chris Farley is a little on the shallow side. It’s not until the last fifteen or so minutes that his death even comes up. Heavy on the happiness and nostalgia and then just a little bit of, “Also, the bad.” And it’s something I’m sort of conflicted about. By virtue of this fact, I Am Chris Farley is not really an accurate representation of who he was. If he was in and out of rehab, then a couple of mentions towards the end are hardly enough to accurately depict his struggle. This is a whitewashed version of Chris Farley.
But I can also appreciate the desire to not dwell on the negative. It makes the film less of a historical document, but I also don’t think that makes it somehow less worthwhile. Just go in with your expectations in check. This is how people want to remember him, all of the good times they had together and the laughs that everyone shared. This is about the idyllic version of the man – the myth and the legend. I think that’s okay. I honestly do. There’s something unfortunate about it, perhaps, but this was a man who just wanted to make people laugh. He wanted to be famous so he could go make sick children at the hospital happy. That’s the stuff people want to think about and remember. Everyone has their flaws… but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I think this is one of those times.