Let's be realistic.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Blistering performances.

7 out of 10 may seem like a good rating for I Am Chris Farley, and on the whole this is a documentary worth watching, primarily for those who have seen Farley's work back in the 90's (I want to see more of the perspective of someone who isn't a fan, or was too young to see the impact at the time). And for myself the work of this man has resonance from a specific time; as an adolescent, Farley came at just the right time in my life via his work on SNL and movies like Tommy Boy and Coneheads, and I even found as an overweight kid that he was kind of an odd role model.Here was a guy acting like a silly fool on TV and in movies, but in the roles he was committed completely, without any equivocation, while also having a pure, kind spirit about how he related to other actors and characters: a man-child in a way that wasn't stupid in an obnoxious way (a danger with comedian stars today). Among the sort of BIG comedic stars of his time he went even BIGGER than someone like Belushi (maybe slightly less, uh, nuanced if that's possible as comparison), and with a drive all his own. His death was a shattering moment in my life, though I wonder what would've happened had I grown up more with him around - but for a 13 year old, he was just about perfect.This documentary looks at his life from start to end, from his childhood and early years gaining his footing as someone who just liked to perform for people on stage (from small clubs to Second City), to SNL and stardom. There are plenty of talking-heads to keep it all moving, plus photos and selected clips from when he was on stage at things like the small club in Milwaukee where he got more focused as a performer, and it's his family that sheds light on a man who was loaded for bear with passion for being silly and making people laugh (sometimes to borderline dangerous results - an anecdote about taking out his penis in a high school typing class is very funny and could only work with Farley and the context of the place).There might have been a slight quality to some of this first half, and I think it's simply because the directors are making something for TV; this was shot for the Spike TV channel, and the filmmakers use light, bouncy (but very generic) music to move parts of it along, and the same type of generic music over sadder/darker moments when they pop up (mostly near the end of the movie). I also wish that the filmmakers, for all of the clips from SNL (of course) and Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, got other clips were featured to see his different roles (Wayne's World, Coneheads, Airheads, the final performances in Almost Heroes or Dirty Work), or even the audio for certain clips from his very early stage work. But most of all I wish the documentary were longer, and that the filmmakers went more in depth about the dark side of his life; it's not that it isn't touched on, and it's seen how he slipped off into despairing situations in addiction, but it's not given equal weight, and his final year is mostly skimmed over.And yet the clips that are featured are wonderful, and the anecdotes from certain people like Bob Odenkirk (you can tell Farley was so important a person, nevermind talent, to him), Lorne Michaels, and cast from SNL like Myers and Sandler and Spade make for shaping up Farley as this genuinely good person who was just genuinely uncontrollable as a comic talent and (unfortunately) as an addict. I found myself laughing, big belly laughs I mean, for scenes from SNL that I've seen many times. Something about Farley was so genuine as a performer, there was no real BS about him, and he would go for a joke even if it wasn't there (the skit on the show where he's in the beard at the restaurant) which just shows his total tenacity. And yet it's also revelatory to how he was a solid Christian man in spirit. What's most fascinating about I Am Chris Farley is seeing a man who's own love of excess as an actor and as a man was his own undoing. I wish there was more detail.

I am Joel "Meeza" Mesa (also known as a Lobsterman in a little boat) and the following is my review on the insightful documentary on the legendary late great comic Chris Farley entitled "I Am Chris Farley". Brent Hodge and Derik Murray, who collaborated in writing and directing the documentary, interview Farley's comic collaborators including SNL peers: Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, David Spade and others; and they provide their enlightening stories on their work & experiences with Chris on the SNL set. Chris Farley's brothers also put their ten cents in the pleasure of having Chris as a brother. Sure, the doc does present on Farley's drug addiction & low self-esteem which ultimately led to his death; but Hodge & Murray prioritized more the lively, generous, caring, and vivacious talented comic that was Chris Farley by celebrating his life. Farley was not just a Chippendale, I mean chip of the old block. Even through his depression, Farley had so much life in him; and it's very disheartening that his life was short lived. So that was me, Joel "Meeza" Mesa, telling you all Tommy Boys & Girls to see the entertaining documentary "I Am Chris Farley". ***** Excellent

"I remember one time when all the nuns in my Catholic grade school got around in a semicircle, me and Mom in the middle, and they said, 'Mrs. Farley, the children at school are laughing at Christopher, not with him.' I thought, 'Who cares? As long as they're laughing." - Quote by Chris FarleyI Am Chris Farley was probably my most anticipated documentary of 2015, right next to Amy. I always like these kind of documentary's, where we see an in depth look into the famous person life and get to know them more in person; Those are always the best. Chris Farley was a comedic actor that stared in ten movies and a couple of skits on TV and the greatest SNL players ever, until he's tragic death in 1997. I think it's about time we got a documentary about Farley as he was beloved by many people and today he's still being talked about, so making a documentary is a perfect time to start now. I finally got the chance to watch the documentary last Friday and I thought the documentary was okay, and it kind of sucks saying that as I really wanted to love it so badly.I think what the documentary dose so well is introducing us to the man himself Chris Farley, because the main focus of this documentary is on he's career on TV, movies and basically Farley in person. All of this is shown by old footage of Farley doing he's usual skits and Farley best friends telling us stuff that I didn't know about. All of that was well down and some of them had something interesting and funny to say about Farley. My only problem that I had with the whole documentary is that I felt like I didn't get a lot out of it if you know what I mean. The only things that I was interested in knowing before seeing the documentary is getting to know Farley more in person and he's drug addiction that later killed him. The good thing is that I got to know Farley a bit in person, but I felt like didn't get enough, Because after I finished watching "I Am Chris Farley" I quickly went online to look up Chris Farley and there was some much more details that went into more depth that the documentary didn't do. Yeah they're do bring up he's death and him going to rehab in the documentary but it didn't last very long has it quickly moved on. I just wished they would have gone more in depth on those important issues, and yeah you can say that maybe they didn't want to talk about it since it may be hard for them, But this is a "Documentary" and me as a viewer felt like I just didn't enough about the biggest issues in Farley's life which effected him deeply and made for a horrid sight. Well that's pretty much all my honest thoughts on "I Am Chris Farley". It's worth watching if you're interested or not. It's okay but not as great as I thought it was going to be.

Growing up, there was no actor that I loved more than Chris Farley. I watched Tommy Boy and Black Sheep more times than I can count, and I was probably the only person who loved Beverly Hills Ninja when it came out, seeing it twice in the theater. Even today, I can watch any movie with Chris Farley at any time and still laugh out loud. And while some of Farley's movies don't hold up as well as others (the aforementioned Beverly Hills Ninja is downright embarrassing at times), it's still always a treat to watch Farley's performances over again. I Am Chris Farley was made for hardcore Farley fans like myself. It's a movie made by those closest to Farley for people who grew up with, or were influenced by, the comedy legend.From the opening scenes, it's fairly obvious that I Am Chris Farley is a biased film. As the film is executive produced by Kevin Farley, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. With this in mind, I Am Chris Farley is best viewed as a tribute film to Farley rather than a fully detailed, definitive documentary. Almost everybody interviewed pretty much concedes that they think Farley was one of the funniest, sweetest people who ever lived. If I remember correctly, Mike Myers is the only person who even brings up having an argument/fight with Farley at any time (although fights between Farley and David Spade are brought up by other people). There is nothing inherently wrong with presenting Farley in such a positive light, but it also seemingly makes the one sidedness of the whole thing quite transparent at times. Farley's alcoholism is discussed several times, although explicit discussion of his use of hard drugs is skimmed over almost entirely. This fact is obvious and distracting at times, but it is also understandable given how upset friends like Adam Sandler, Bob Saget, and Tom Arnold appear when talking about the darker aspects of Farley's life towards the end. Sandler, Saget, and Arnold give incredibly insightful and powerful interviews. Out of everyone, these are three that seem the most vulnerable on screen. This is especially true of Arnold who comes across as the most introspective, sympathetic, and relateable out of anyone interviewed in the whole film. It's a bit surprising that there isn't more focus on David Spade given how close they were, but between his interview segments and the multiple clips from Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, the bond between Farley and Spade is still strongly represented in the film.I Am Chris Farley is very, very clip heavy. There are a great number of clips from Farley's most famous SNL sketches, his appearances on David Letterman's show, and video footage of him performing at Second City. While this might be annoying in other documentaries, it's never particularly bothersome here. Almost all the clips show Farley at his best, demonstrating what a unique and interesting talent he was. There are nitpicks that I could make about how Almost Heroes and Dirty Work clips are missing, or how there is slightly too much of this or that, though ultimately it doesn't matter as the final credits roll. I could have watched a four-hour documentary on Farley and still been glued to the screen. I Am Chris Farley is a 94-minute tribute that does what it sets out to do, and does it extremely well. While not perfect, this is the best movie about Farley that fans are likely to ever get. 8.5/10