Funny Farm: A Sweeping Epic of the Sticks

by Jay Cronley

The Farmers quit their jobs and move from New York City out to the country. But they have to share their rural paradise with wacky locals, marauding water snakes, and more hilarious gags and mishaps than they can shake a stick at…

“Uprorious . . . Uttlerly absurd . . . Wonderfully endearing.” — The New York Times Book Review

“Ridiculous, implausible, bonehead dumb, and laught-out-loud funny throughout” — Playboy

Another Jay Cronley title you're sure to enjoy is Good Vibes, all about a very crazy day at the races.

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2023

About the author

Jay Cronley (1948 - February 27, 2017) was a former columnist for the Tulsa World and the author of many works of humorous fiction.

Many of Cronley's novels have been made into feature films including, Good Vibes, Quick Change, Funny Farm and Cheap Shot.

Reviews

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read but I surprisingly found its movie adaptation with Chevy Chase which was released three years later to be a whole lot better.

For starters the character of Andy Farmer who was later portrayed by Chase is not a very likable character in the book. He’s a jerk to his wife and really just in general, he is a destructive alcoholic (he was an alcoholic in the movie too but it was toned down a lot.)

Andy is just a depressing and unpleasant character in the book, whereas Chase’s portrayal of the character was actually a pretty nice guy just trying to get through a tough situation with the quirks of country life and while he could be a jerk at times usually there was a reason for it and it didn’t distract from the story or cause a lot of unpleasantness as it does in the book.

Not is only Andy a depressing character in the book he is also essentially a criminal which I am happy they took that subplot out of the film.

Elizabeth Farmer who was later portrayed by Madolyn Smith in the movie is also a very unlikeable character. She is a whiny sarcastic housewife and even Andy admits to getting annoyed by her sarcasm. In the movie she had an occasional sarcastic line or two but it was usually witty and timed well and didn’t wear out it’s welcome.

Here the sarcasm is so overdone that if Elizabeth Farmer were a real person she certainly isn’t someone I would want to spend a lot of time with.

I do however like the supporting characters in the book better only because more time is devoted to getting to know them and their backgrounds. The move didn’t have as much details naturally about the townspeople due to time constraints so I did like their quirks and backstories in the book better. The movers, the sheriff, the mailman and other townspeople had funny and interesting stories we didn’t see in the film.

The book also has a couple funny subplots that weren’t in the movie but on the whole I would have to say if you want the best version of this story watch the movie instead.

The book is also a lot more crude and profane which the movie was originally supposed to be but they wisely toned that down in the final version of the film and it worked better.

The book is also a lot more dark which i wouldn’t have a problem with otherwise but I just don’t think this is a dark humor type of story, and the movie was funny and enjoyable enough without the unnecessary darkness and grittiness of the book.

If you’re enough of a fan of the movie as I was one read definitely won’t be a total of waste of time but I feel the movie is far superior.

I also found it annoying that Cronley kept calling Andy Farmer by his first and last name every time he said something or was referenced.

Book is average, the movie is still one of my favorite comedies ever and I felt was Chase’s best performance as an actor.