I Am Chris Farley

Chris Farley grew up in Wisconsin, one of a large family, and learned early how to make everyone laugh. He worked in improvised theatre in Chicago, then joined the country's best known comedy programme and within a few years was famous. His comedy was built on his body; he fell, he shouted, he threw himself on the floor. In those same years he was using, and went into treatment several times. He died in 1997 at thirty three. The documentary talks to the people who knew him. Brent Hodge directs. His family and the comedians he worked with speak in it; Christina Applegate, Tom Arnold, Dan Aykroyd, Adam Sandler, David Spade and Bob Odenkirk are among them. It is an American production. The documentary cuts archive footage against interviews and runs chronologically. The matter it treats is the price of making people laugh; the distance between Farley's energy on stage and his private life is discussed. The narrative does not open the addiction very far and passes quickly over his last years. The film was made with the family's support and that closeness sets limits on the story. The documentary shows the comedy at length and leaves room to laugh. The narrative also touches on Farley's religious belief and his sense of guilt. Most of those speaking are emotional and the distance is narrow. The ending gives his death in a short passage. Its limit is the absence of criticism; the narrative is like a memorial and the hard questions are not asked. Who it is for: viewers curious about nineties American comedy and followers of Farley. Who it is not for: it is surface level, one sided, and the ending sad.