Black Sheep
Black Sheep Poster
Directed by	Penelope Spheeris
Produced by	Lorne Michaels
Written by	Fred Wolf
Starring	Chris Farley David Spade Gary Busey Tim Matheson
Release date(s)	February 2 1996(USA)
Running time	87 minutes
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Black Sheep is a 1996 comedy film, directed by Penelope Spheeris (Wayne's World) and starring the comedy duo Chris Farley and David Spade. The film portrays a political contest in which the candidate deals with unwanted and incompetent help from his brother. Co-starring are Tim Matheson, Christine Ebersole, and Gary Busey. Chris Owen and Fred Wolf have cameo appearances, and Farley's real-life brothers Kevin Farley and John P. Farley appear as bouncers.

This is the last film that David Spade and Chris Farley co-starred in and is often unfavorably compared to the 1995 film Tommy Boy. In fact, famed film critic Gene Siskel stated that Black Sheep was the only movie he ever walked out on. In both films, Farley plays the lovable doofus and Spade plays his wise-cracking acquaintance. In one of his Spade in America sketches on Saturday Night Live, Spade (with the help of Teri Hatcher) made fun of Black Sheep, saying, "maybe you saw it the first time, when it was called Tommy Boy."

Many scenes in the film were filmed in Buckley, Washington.

Plot

Mike Donnelly (Farley) is the doltish younger brother of Al Donnelly (Tim Matheson), running for governor of Washington state. Mike, however, can't seem to do anything without causing a huge mishap, jeopardizing his brother's chances of winning. Al assigns campaign advisor Steve Dodds (a name parody of Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs played by Spade) to chaperone Mike until the election is over.

Trivia

• This was the first film since Animal House to star both Tim Matheson and Bruce McGill, both members of the infamous Delta house.
• This is the third film starring Chris Farley and David Spade, the first being Coneheads and the second being Tommy Boy.
• Adam Dardine, author of "Need a Little Wind Here", says that Black Sheep is "straight up ballin'.
• Spade is very sensitive to light. The combination of bright lights on-set and working under sunlight while filming Black Sheep caused permanent damage to his eyes. On his condition: "I have to wear a hat even indoors and flashes in particular freak me out. I even have to make them turn down the lights in the make-up trailers. I've become such a pain in the butt with this light-sensitive thing, it's a wonder they don't just shoot me." ^[1]
• Grunge band Mudhoney appeared in the movie.
• The first film Gene Siskel walked out on in 25 years of reviewing films.^[2]

References

1. ^ INTERVIEW: David Spade of "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Cinema Confidential. 5 September 2003. Retrieved June 11, 2006.
2. ^ http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html?sec=6&subsec=Black+Sheep

External links

• Black Sheep at the Internet Movie Database

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