The plot of "Funny Farm" is a good one, and the script has doses of funny lines. But most of the comedy comes in antics involving Chevy Chase, and in the comedy rapport between Chase and Madolyn Smith Osborne. From the opening scene - a farewell lunch and drinks among the boys from the newspaper, one might wonder why there haven't been at least a couple more movies made along these lines.Chase is Andy Farmer, a sports writer for one of the Big Apple newspapers of the day. He is doing what many "rag" writers dream of doing - escaping the big city for country life and the chance to write the great American novel. His wife, Elizabeth, is a school teacher and they both have looked forward to living in Redbud. It might be in Upstate New York, or western Connecticut or Massachusetts. The Farmers get there by heading up the Hudson Valley Parkway and have some distance to drive. Whichever state it's in, it is definitely some distance off any major roads. The country home they bought is very nice and has a tremendous view. While there's nothing wrong with the house, troubles begin right away with the movers, the rural mailman, and some of the locals. How will things work out? Will Andy get his novel done, or will someone else have success writing? Will the Farmers settle into their community? That's all part of the fun in this comedy that has just a little satire about rural life and people. This film has some swearing in places, but otherwise it's a decent comedy that older kids and adults should enjoy. The funniest lines are mostly upfront. Here are some favorites.Newspaper Editor, "Andy, all my life I've dreamed of packing up and leaving the city and the newspaper business behind." Reporter, "What stopped you, Jack?" Newspaper Editor, "And moving to some quiet little town in the country and putting down on paper the novel I know I have inside me." Reporter, "That's not a novel, Jack, its heartburn." Mickey, "This ain't a bridge. It's termites holding hands." Crocker, driver of the moving van, "You still got that map?" Mickey, "Yeah." Crocker, "Don't lose it. It might be the piece of evidence that gets me off a murder charge." Mickey, "Who you gonna kill?" Crocker, "The S.O.B. who drew that map." Elizabeth Farmer, "When they say hardwood floors, what they really mean is hard, wood floors."

This Chevy Chase film had potential to be a really funny movie. Unfortunately, poor choices for moving the story along doom this one to being an unmemorable mediocre comedy. Still, there are some laughs to be had in this film about a couple who move to the country with rather disastrous results. Most of the more funny scenes though occur at the beginning of the film, as the film progresses though it becomes more and more bland. Chevy's character is a writer who once he arrives in the country develops a rather bad case of writer's block. This initially interesting and led to a funny scene involving a singing bird. However, this is also what ends up shooting the film down in flames as this leads to a dispute between Chevy's character and his wife. A very unfunny set of scenes that set the movie into even less funny scenes as they decide to sell their newly acquired home. Still, the scene involving the couple going to the restaurant, the scene involving them trying to get a dog and the scene about the fishing trip are funny and make the movie rise to a bit higher level before the second half of the movie sort of crashes the movie down.

Chevy Chase is normally associated with the Caddyshack, Fletch and Vacation series meaning that his one-shot movies mostly fall by the wayside. Films like Spies Like Us, Nothing But Trouble and Funny Farm have went largely unseen since the advent of DVD in 1997. Neither of these movies have received widescreen releases and have been out of print for years. I was beginning to wonder what Warner had against giving them definitive releases until I discovered an HD master of Funny Farm on the PlayStation Network.I saw it only once, when I was about 9, and remembered very little. If you're a fan of Clark Griswold then Andy Farmer isn't too far removed. Andy is a sports journalist who retires from the big city to the Redbud, Vermont hoping to enjoy and idyllic, peaceful life and finally write the great, American novel (The Big Heist). When he gets there he and his wife discover that almost everyone and everything is weirder than the last. There are giant snakes in their pond, a dead body buried in their garden, a Sheriff who can't drive, a crazy mailman and a town who basically hate them. And top of all this Andy has severe writer's block while his wife manages to churn out a successful children's novel without really trying.With careful, measured direction from George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy, The Sting) Funny Farm, based on a novel by Jay Cronley, manages to be a little classier than Chase's usual fare. This makes the lack of a home video version even more puzzling. It has never been released on DVD in the UK, and the 1989 VHS is long gone. If you have access to the PlayStation Network then go for it. I have a funny feeling that Funny Farm and Spies Like Us will probably be released as a Warner Blu Ray Double Feature in the near future, but nothing has been announced so far.Don't let the mistreatment of this film put you off, it lives up to it's title and is the perfect vehicle for Chevy Chase and his goofy humour.

Andy Farmer (Chevy Chase) is a sports writer for a Manhattan newspaper. But, he and his lovely wife, Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith) long for a quiet life, away from the rat race. So, when Andy pitches an idea for a novel to a major publisher and receives an advance, they quit their jobs and buy a home in rural New England. Stopping for a picnic on the way to their new home, they take photographs of cows and wax lyrical about their coming good fortune. However, once in the town of Redbud, things do not go as planned. First, the movers get lost and are so irritated and tired by the time they arrive at the Farmers' house, they pitch Andy's desk chair into a nearby pond. Then, Andy and Elizabeth's new mail carrier is a maniac who drives by their place every day, going 70 mph and flinging their mail into the yard. Huh. Andy's first attempt at fishing his own pond results in the capture of a big black snake, which wraps around Andy's shoulders, while Elizabeth digs up a coffin, complete with a corpse, in the couple's garden. From their runaway dog to the horrid dinners served at the local diner to a major writers' block that consumes Andy, will they last the winter? This wonderfully funny film is a great entertainment choice for the proverbial "bad day". The script is very humorous, with a bevy of terrific one-liners. Case in point, when the movers arrive at a rickety bridge, one of them wails that "that's not a bridge, that's a bunch of termites holding hands"! Yes, that's one phrase, but the film sports quite a few of them. The cast, mostly unknowns, are great, with the star, Chase, on top of his game and Smith complimenting him nicely. The scenery in olde New England is lovely while the costumes and other movie niceties are top-notch. George Roy Hill's direction, too, is fast and fresh. If you are searching for surefire laughs at the end of a rough day, you could hardly do better than this little flick. Although it has no grandiose aspirations, it is grand entertainment indeed.