Black Sheep

Production values could not be cheaper for a major-studio film. An extended woodsy scene with a collapsing cabin, supposedly set in the Wenatchee National Forest, so obviously makes use of tiny models that you expect the artifice to become part of the joke. It never does. Like so much of Black Sheep, it's a missed opportunity. Read full review

There are some semi-funny bits, but few are worth repeating and none will make much sense on paper. The only time when the film truly clicks is during a staged concert featuring the veteran Seattle grunge band Mudhoney. Suddenly there are wacky camera angles, wild editing, actual ideas. Despite her low-brow comedy rep, Spheeris still excels at capturing the intensity and drama of live rock music, which she did so well in both editions of "The Decline of Western Civilization." Read full review

Spade, clearly bored with his petulant-pipsqueak persona, does the kind of sleepwalking that gets ridiculed on TV by David Spade. Make no mistake: He's over this. [2 Feb 1996, p.31]

ALTHOUGH IT DOES HAVE a plot of sorts, Black Sheep isn't really a movie it's more like a series of "Saturday Night Live" sketches highlighting Chris Farley's fumbling fatboy shtick. [2 Feb 1996, p.36]

Since BLACK SHEEP was directed by talented Penelope Spheeris (WAYNE'S WORLD), we had some hope that we'd find it marginally less distasteful than TOMMY BOY. We were disappointed. Read full review

The only thing that surprises me here is that Roger Clinton isn't signed up for a cameo. Read full review

There is some glint of acting potential in Farley's puffy face, but this movie doesn't mine it. Director Penelope Spheeris was well prepared for the maturity level here, after she directed The Little Rascals last year, yet seems content to place Farley and Spade in the same situations she crafted in Wayne's World. Farley would be wise to be more selective in his career, or else he'll wind up as a comic prop in insurance commercials. [4 Feb 1996, p.2B]

You, too, will roll your eyes at the film's lazy script, which is littered with gags pilfered from earlier movies and cartoons. In one scene, a loose boulder goes crashing down on Spade and Farley's mountain retreat. Heck, even Wile E. Coyote knew better than to build his house on the side of a cliff. [5 Feb 1996, p.4C]

Utter, unforgivable bilge. Read full review

The two-minute trailer for Black Sheep is so crammed with pratfalls that it appears funny. But a full hour and a half leaves this comedy looking one-note and virtually laugh-free...This may sound like a John Belushi role, but Mr. Farley has little of Mr. Belushi's gift for sneaky, subversive mischief. He spends his time here just getting his thumbs caught in a car's hood, being dragged on his stomach until sparks fly, etc. Almost all the film's jokes involve physical pain. Read full review