Tommy Boy

Infobox Film
name = Tommy Boy


caption = Tommy Boy Movie Poster
director = Peter Segal
producer = Lorne Michaels
writer = Bonnie Turner
Terry Turner
Fred Wolf
starring = Chris Farley
David Spade
Bo Derek
Julie Warner
With Dan Aykroyd
And Brian Dennehy
music = David Newman
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = flagicon|USA March 31, 1995
runtime = 97 min.
language = English
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:134609
imdb_id = 0114694

"Tommy Boy" is a 1995 comedy movie starring Chris Farley and David Spade.

Plot

After seven years at Marquette University, hard-partying D-student Thomas R. "Tommy" Callahan III (Chris Farley) returns to his hometown, Sandusky, Ohio. There, his proud father, industrialist Tom Callahan Jr. (Brian Dennehy), gives him an executive job at the family's auto parts plant.

In addition to a job and an office, Tom Sr. reveals other surprises for his son: he is engaged to a woman he met at a fat farm, Beverly Barish-Burns (Bo Derek), and that Tommy will soon have a stepbrother, Beverly's son Paul (Rob Lowe).

The first major plot complication arrives when Tom Sr. suffers a heart attack during the wedding reception and dies. At a board meeting after the funeral, the bank reneges on loans Tom Sr. had negotiated to pay for a new brake pad division, which he thought to be the future of the company.

Fearing the death of his family's company, Tommy comes up with an idea: Give the bank his inheritance as collateral and then go on a cross-nation sales trip with his father's former assistant, Richard Hayden (David Spade). Tommy and Hayden, a childhood friend long envious of Tommy's ability to be lazy and yet be rewarded, hit the road in a last-ditch effort to save the company.

Meanwhile, during a quiet moment, a kiss reveals that Paul and Beverly are not son and mother. They are a married couple of con artists whose plan to steal from Tom Sr. has paid off early. Instead of eventually suing for divorce and taking half of Tom Sr.'s estate, Beverly has inherited the company and now seeks a quick sale to self-described "auto parts king" Ray Zalinsky (Dan Aykroyd).

On the road, Tommy's comical social awkwardness, hyperactivity and inexperience alienate a series of potential buyers. However, after using his innate persuasive powers to convince a surly waitress to serve him after the kitchen is closed, Richard notices Tommy's potential. The pair make sales and mend their fraying friendship.

The final plot complication comes as Paul sabotages the company's computers so that in the ensuing chaos the sale to Zalinsky will go through despite Tommy's recent success. The climax comes in the Zalinsky boardroom in Chicago the following day.

At first, they are kicked out of the board room because Tommy has given his shares to the bank. But, just as Tommy and Hayden wallow on the curb in self-pity, a taxi pulls up with a breathless Michelle Brock (Julie Warner). The Callahan Auto shipping clerk has proof that Paul and Beverly are married con artists.

Tommy then devises a plan. Using some handy road flares, he dresses himself as a bogus suicide bomber and forces his way back into the Zalinsky building. In the board room, with a TV camera crew watching, Tommy coerces Zalinsky into signing a purchase order for a half-million brake pads. There are cheers in Sandusky, where workers are watching the scene in Chicago unfold on a conveniently-placed television.

After the TV crew leaves, Tommy admits his deception. Zalinsky says that the purchase order is meaningless because he will soon own the company. However, Michelle shows documents detailing Paul and Beverly's marriage and their criminal record. The group around the table works through the logic together: Beverly was never legally married to Tom Sr. because she was still married to Paul. Since the marriage wasn't valid, she can't inherit, so her shares really belong to Tommy. Tommy doesn't want to sell, so therefore the deal with Zalinsky is off.

Tommy still holds Zalinsky's purchase order, meaning that he has saved the company which he now controls. The film ends with Paul on his way to jail, Beverly on her way to lunch with Zalinsky and Tommy introduced as the new president of Callahan Auto Inc.In a denouement, Tommy returns to his favorite spot - a small dinghy on a lake - where he asks the spirit of his late father for enough wind to blow him to shore to meet a dinner date with Michelle.

Reception

The film did well financially, but was not a huge critical success.

'Tommy Boy' opened as the No. 1 movie in the United States on March 31, 1995, [cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1995/0TMBY.php|title=the-numbers.com |accessdate=2008-01-25] but fell out of the Top 20 within seven weeks.Total U.S. box office gross was $32,648,673. [cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1995/0TMBY.php|title=Box office data for 'Tommy Boy' |accessdate=2008-01-25]

Influential US film critic Roger Ebert wrote:

"No one is funny in "Tommy Boy". There are no memorable lines. None of the characters are interesting except for the enigmatic figure played by Rob Lowe, who seems to have wandered over from "Hamlet". " [cite web |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19950331/REVIEWS/503310304/1023 |title=Roger Ebert's Review |accessdate=2007-07-29]

In the "New York Times", reviewer Caryn James said the film was:

" ... the very poor cousin of a dopey Jim Carrey movie." [cite web |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=990CE7DD113CF932A05750C0A963958260&oref=login|title=Caryn James' New York Times Review|accessdate=2007-07-29]

Rottentomatoes.com's index rates the film at 46 percent, earning it a designation as "rotten." [cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tommy_boy/|title=Rottentomatoes.com on 'Tommy Boy' |accessdate=2007-07-29]

Soundtrack

Warner Brothers soundtrack release

#"I Love It Loud (Injected Mix)" - written by Gene Simmons & Vincent Cusano, performed by Phunk Junkeez
#Graduation - David Spade
#"Silver Naked Ladies" - Paul Westerberg
#Lalaluukee - David Spade
#"Call On Me" - Primal Scream
#How Do I Look? - David Spade
#"Wait For The Blackout" - written by Millar, Burns, Vanian, Gray, & Osborn, performed by The Goo Goo Dolls
#Bong Resin - David Spade
#"My Hallucination" - Tommy Shaw & Jack Blades
#"Air" - written by Pamela Laws & Nancy Hess, performed by Seven Day Diary
#Fat Guy In Little Coat - David Spade
#"Superstar" - written by Leon Russell & Bonnie Bramlett, performed by The Carpenters
#Jerk Motel - David Spade
#"Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago" - Soul Coughing
#My Pretty Little Pet - David Spade
#"Come On Eileen" - Dexy's Midnight Runners
#It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I...) - R.E.M.
#"Eres Tú" - written by Juan Carlos Calderón, performed by Mocedades
#Housekeeping - David Spade
# "My Lucky Day" - Smoking Popes
#Poop - David Spade

Other songs

# "What'd I Say" - performed by Ray Charles
# "Maniac" - written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky
# "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" - written by Eddie Holland & Norman Whitfield, performed by Louis Price
# "Amazing Grace" - performed by The Pipes and Drums and Military of The King's Own Scottish Borderers
# "Crazy" - written by Willie Nelson, performed by Patsy Cline
# "I'm Sorry" - written by Ronnie Self & Dub Allbritten, performed by Brenda Lee
# "Ooh Wow" - written by Sidney Cooper, performed by Buckwheat Zydeco
# "The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades" - written by Pat MacDonald, performed by Timbuk 3
# "The Merry Go Round Broke Down" - Cliff Friend & Dave Franklin

References

External links

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