''I Am Chris Farley'' is a 2015 documentary film based on the life of comedian and actor

Chris Farley Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the ...

, co-directed by Brent Hodge of Hodgee Films and Derik Murray, who was also a producer, of Network Entertainment. The production features interviews with numerous actors, comedians and others who worked with Farley during his career.

Premise

This documentary on the life of comedian Chris Farley follows the growth of Farley's career from his first production at a summer camp in Wisconsin to the movies. The film focuses on the importance of

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' in his career.

Featured cast of subjects

Christina Applegate Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress. As a child actress, she gained recognition for starring as Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom '' Married... with Children'' (1987–1997). Applegate established a successful film a ...

* Tom Arnold * Dan Aykroyd * Lorri Bagley *

Bo Derek Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins, November 20, 1956) is an American actress and model. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy '' 10'' (1979). Her first husband John Derek directed her in '' Fantasies''; '' Tarzan, the Ape Man ...

* John P. Farley *

Kevin Farley Kevin Prindiville Farley (born June 8, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and director. Early life Farley was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Mary Anne (née Crosby), a homemaker, and Thomas Farley, who owned an oil ...

* Pat Finn *

Jon Lovitz Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in '' A League of ...

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

Jay Mohr Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and radio host. He is known for his roles as film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series '' Action'', Professor Rick Payne in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer'' ...

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywoo ...

* Bob Odenkirk *

Bob Saget Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Saget played Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'' (1987-1995), and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fulle ...

* Adam Sandler *

Will Sasso Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wil ...

Molly Shannon Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...

David Spade David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...

Brian Stack Brian Stack may refer to: * Brian Stack (comedian) (born 1967), American actor, comedian, and writer * Brian P. Stack (born 1966), New Jersey senator * Brian Stack (prison officer) (1935/36–1984), shot by the IRA See also * Brian Stock (born 19 ...

* Fred Wolf

Production and release

The film has been largely advertised on the Hodgee Films social media pages on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

and Instagram and was first announced on the official Chris Farley Facebook page on September 19, 2013. The film's TV premiere was August 10, 2015 on Spike TV and had a simultaneous release on DVD/Blu-ray and digital download.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 6.53/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''I Am Chris Farley'' lives up to its title by taking a poignant look at the life of the deceased star that should prove affecting and illuminating for novicers and longtime fans alike." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 58 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewer Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars, calling the film "a love letter" to Farley and said that Farley "probably would have been embarrassed and a bit shy about the whole thing. But he would have loved the attention. He would have smiled and laughed. And sometimes that’s enough." Film critic Kyle Anderson of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' gave it a B+, calling it "skillfully helmed" by directors Brent Hodge and Derik Murray.

References

External links

* * {{official website, http://www.iamchrisfarley.com Documentary films about actors Documentary films about comedy and comedians Films directed by Brent Hodge Films directed by Derik Murray 2010s English-language films