I Am Chris Farley (2015)

I AM CHRIS FARLEY  (2015)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Brent Hodge, Derik Murray
The fast times and short life of Chris Farley, an oversized blast of amped-up energy who shot to fame on "Saturday Night Live" as a contemporary of Adam Sandler, David Spade and Mike Myers, famous for his jaw-dropping Chippendales dance-off with Patrick Swayze and his role as Matt Foley, the all-out motivational speaker who "lives in a van down by the river." Farley's friends and family participated in this documentary, which understandably zeroes in on his full-throttle approach to improv comedy, while dancing around the demons that drove and destroyed him. Farley had a troubled history with drugs, but nobody here will get very specific about that, let alone mention his last day on earth, which he apparently spent binging and partying with a hooker. What's apparent is that Farley never did anything except to excess, on screen or away from it, and that electrified his comedy. Even now, watching some of those old clips from SNL or Letterman, you don't know whether he's going to go berserk, drop dead, or explode. It was a wild ride, but it couldn't be sustained, and when it ended in an overdose at 33, many people were sad, but nobody seemed surprised.