Director: George Roy Hill
Cast: Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith, Joseph Maher, Jack Gilpin
Have I Seen It Before: Yes, and to a weird degree. When I was a kid and fancied myself a novelist (not to be confused with the various times in my 20s and 30s that I’ve done the same thing) I actually managed to finagle an interview with Jay Cronley, author of the novel. By then he had become a weekly columnist for the local paper. He was nice and enthusiastic, far nicer and more enthusiastic about Mac Boyle: Novelist than he had any obligation to be to a 15-year-old kid who took some time out of his day. Even so, there was a bit of world-weariness to him that made me always fairly certain that the story was a self-insert. Andy Farmer is Cronley. Cronley is Andy Farmer.
Did I Like It: As I watch it now, the thing I’m most struck by is less the fundamental Cronley-ness of Chase as Farmer but that this might be the perfect vehicle for Chase at his prime. You might prefer him as Clark Griswold in the Vacation films, but me and mine will always prefer him in Fletch (1985)*, Andy Farmer seems to be the perfect blend of those two disparate poles of Chase’s on-screen persona**. Oddly enough, when he’s his most manic, he’s tapping into his Griswold side, and when he’s more wry and detached from the absurdity transpiring around him, he’s more Fletch.
It may, indeed, be the ultimate 80s Chevy Chase movie.
*Even if Jon Hamm played him more like Gregory MacDonald wrote him, but that’s a matter for other reviews. Also I think that Bill Murray would have been better casting for the role back int the 80s… I know, I know. Different review.
**The third pole of Chase is his off screen persona, which tends to be what he plays more now. On yet another unrelated note, when are we getting that Community movie?