Absolutely brilliant

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Writer Andy (Chevy Chase) and wife Elizabeth Farmer move to the country Redbud, Vermont. At first, they see the little problems as quaint. Their movers have a harrowing time finding their house. However, the weird locals and unending problems overwhelm them. Elizabeth doesn't like Andy's manuscript and writes a children's book of her own. It all falls apart as the couple decides to get divorced and sell their home. They offer the locals money to fool prospective buyers.It has a couple of good chuckles but the movie is more quirky than funny. Chevy's air of superiority gets into the way sometimes. He's not always lovable. This is not that bad either. I had a couple of chuckles but it's not enough.

The film wonderfully skews the convention of the innocent country rubes moving to the big city and being overwhelmed by its meanness and craziness. Here, it's the cityfolk who move wide-eyed to the country - and are amazed to find there a roll call of crazies, misanthropes, and just plain wierdos. Does this view of country life have any basis in reality? Probably not, but then the film isn't really trying to be a satire but instead a pure lunatic comic fantasy. And it gives us a rich array of supporting characters - from the town sheriff who hasn't yet passed his driving test and so must ride around in cabs, to the owner of an antiques store whose merchandise are all personal. All these characters are priceless, and the film just keeps coming up with more and more of them - until it has created this pleasantly bizarre and warped Otherworld, of a kind that only comedy can truly provide.Best of all is the way in which Chase and Smith react to all of this and try to make some sense of it. I very clearly say "Chase and Smith" because the film belongs equally to both of them. It had to be billed as a Chevy Chase Comedy, of course, since he's the big star here, but this is no star trip; from the very first, the wife is made an equal partner in the trials and the laughs, and it's the way the two go through their new life together that provides much of the comedy. It also helps take the edge off of the usual Chevy Chase persona: in Funny Farm he's neither glib and disinterested (as in the Fletch movies) nor over the top silly (like in the Vacation movies). He comes across instead like a normal, personable guy who just finds himself caught in insane circumstances.Finally, the climactic sequence of the film is absolutely priceless - one of the most brilliantly sustained comic set-pieces you'll see in any movie, of any era. Funny Farm is the type of movie which gives you a great time and leaves you with a big, dopey grin on your face after it's all over. Trust me, even if you don't normally like Chevy Chase, you'll love Funny Farm.

I pulled this dusty VHS off the shelf today and felt a faint stirring of disgust. Never one to balk at a mystery, I sat down with my old pal IMDb to figure out why I had such an aversion to this movie when everything about this movie should add up to being a 10-star masterpiece for my tastes. Here are things I really love in movies, and that this movie has:1. Chevy Chase2. Light/slapstick comedy 3. 80s comedy 4. Fish-out-of-water story 5. "living the dream" plot 6. I can relate to it (we moved city-to-farm in real life) 7. Animal/outdoor humor 8. Beautiful settingThis should be the perfect movie for me. So what on earth is it that makes me so reluctant to like this movie? I finally figured it out: I don't actually LIKE any of the characters - everyone in this movie seemed so very mean spirited and just plain grumpy. There really wasn't anyone to "root for" at all. I didn't care whether they stayed in the town, stayed married, moved away, got divorced, or even abducted by aliens and never seen again 2/3 of the way through the movie? I really like movies that allow me to enjoy and feel for the characters - this one was very VERY lacking in that department.I'm glad I finally figured it out. Next time I pull that VHS off the shelf, I hope to remember exactly why I should put it right back up again.

Well I thought I had seen Chevy Chase's worst film until I saw this. This is BY FAR his worst movie. My all time favorite is Vacation with Christmas Vacation and European Vacation tied for second. I didn't especially like Vegas Vacation but even that seems like a classic compared to this garbage. Not crazy about the Fletch movies but they are better than this. I know Roger Ebert gave this dull movie 3 and 1/2 stars but I wonder if we were watching the same movie.My least favorite before this was Three Amigos but that is better than Funny Farm. Caddy Shack was a good movie but Chase's role was trounced by Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray. Chase almost ruined that movie if you ask me, and he was the weakest comedian of the 4. When Chase is too laid back like in Caddysahck and Funny Farm, he is not funny.Talk about milking a character to death. The Saturday Night Live persona Chase created would only stretch so far. I would rather watch paint dry than ever watch this dud of a movie again.