I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not

I watched the John Candy documentary recently and enjoyed it, so I was excited to see a new one coming down the way about Chevy Chase, possibly the most hated comedians to make so many beloved movies. Personally, I find the whole concept of Chevy Chase to be fascinating, and I love his films enough that I was offended when this documentary called Fletch 2 a flop. So, I felt like the prime audience for this movie.

I’m not sure what excellent would look like for a biography – its hard to review, as the ideas of story and character are so different than a traditional film. I am sure, however, that this biography was not quite excellent, in part because he is still alive. Very few of the interview subjects are people that truly disliked Chase, just people who can attest to him being difficult. It also gives context to how he grew up in a difficult circumstance, but does not really explore how using comedy to rise from a tough childhood turned Chase into someone who seems so incredibly entitled, particularly since it seems like he was this way since at least his college days. I’d love to know more about that backstory, and it just is not there.

As far as his life goes, we get to hear about some of his successes, as well as his trials and tribulations. I just did not finish the film feeling like I actually knew more about his adult life other than small details than I knew going into this film.

Overall, I liked hearing more about Chevy Chase and found the interviews interesting enough to give this a 7 out of 10, but I think I’m probably doing this movie some favors here because of the subject matter.