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Funny Farm (film)

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Director
  
George Roy Hill

Music director
  
Elmer Bernstein

Duration
  

Country
  
United States

6.1/10
IMDb


Genre
  
Comedy, Drama

Screenplay
  
Jeffrey Boam

Language
  
English

Funny Farm (film) movie poster

Writer
  
Jay Cronley
,
Funny Farm
,
Jeffrey Boam

Release date
  
June 3, 1988 (1988-06-03)

Cast
  
Chevy Chase
(Andy Farmer),
Madolyn Smith Osborne
(Elizabeth Farmer (as Madolyn Smith)),
Kevin O'Morrison
(Sheriff Ledbetter),
Joseph Maher
(Michael Sinclair),
Jack Gilpin
(Bud Culbertson),
Caris Corfman
(Betsy Culbertson)

Similar movies
  
Mabel's New Hero
,
The Riot
,
The Noise of Bombs
,
A Noise from the Deep
,
The Gangsters
,
His Sister's Kids

Tagline
  
Chevy Chase finds life in the country isn't what it's cracked up to be!

Funny farm clips


Funny Farm is a 1988 American comedy film starring Chevy Chase and Madolyn Smith. The film was adapted from a 1985 comedic novel of the same name by Jay Cronley. The movie was filmed on location in Vermont, mostly in Townshend, Vermont. It was the final film directed by George Roy Hill.

Contents

Funny Farm (film) movie scenes

Funny farm selling your country house


Plot

Funny Farm (film) movie scenes

Andy Farmer (Chase) is a New York City sports writer who moves with his wife, Elizabeth (Smith) to the seemingly charming town of Redbud, Vermont, so he can write a novel. They do not get along well with the residents, and other quirks arise such as being given exorbitant funeral bills for a long-dead man buried on their land years before they acquired the house. Marital troubles soon arise from the quirkiness of Redbud as well as the fact that Elizabeth was critical of Andy's manuscript, while secretly getting her ideas for children's books published. They soon decide to divorce and sell their home. To expedite the sale, the Farmers offer the town's residents a $15,000 donation to Redbud, and $50 cash each if they help make a good impression on their prospective home buyers. To that end, the citizens remake Redbud into a perfect Norman Rockwell-style town. Their charade dazzles a pair of prospective buyers, who make the Farmers an offer on the house; however, Andy declines to sell, realizing that he genuinely enjoys small-town living. He and Elizabeth decide to stay together in Redbud, much to the chagrin of the locals, who are now angry that they lost their promised money. Though the mayor does not hold the Farmers liable for the $15,000, as the sale of their house did not occur, Andy decides to pay everyone in Redbud their $50, which helps improve his standing among the townspeople. The film ends with Andy taking a job as a sports writer for the Redbud newspaper, and Elizabeth, now pregnant with their first child, having written multiple children's stories.

Reception

Funny Farm (film) movie scenes

Funny Farm received mixed reviews at the time of its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 67%, based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10.

Funny Farm (film) movie scenes

Vincent Canby, in his review for The New York Times, called the film "good-natured even when it's not funny," and went on to say that its best jokes are recycled from other, better, films. In a negative review for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Wilmington said "Funny Farm–a weak-fish-out-of-water comedy about a New York City couple who see their rural paradise turned into a rustic hell–is a movie with a doubly deceptive title. This movie isn't about a farm, and it isn't very funny, either." In a staff review, Variety said "As pleasant yuppie comedies go, this is about par."

However, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel were strong champions of the film, praising it on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Ebert called the film a "small miracle," while Siskel said it was "the best film Chase has made" and compared it to the films of Preston Sturges.

References

Funny Farm (film) Wikipedia
Funny Farm (film) IMDbFunny Farm (film) Rotten TomatoesFunny Farm (film) Roger EbertFunny Farm (film) themoviedb.org