Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels gives two more of his Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-Players their own big-screen vehicle here. Tommy Boy is a showcase for funnymen Chris Farley and David Spade. The two have appeared in previous movies, but never as the stars.

After ne’r-do-well Tommy (Farley) finally receives his BA after seven years, he goes to work in his father’s brake-pad factory. (We are asked to assume that taking seven years to get a degree constitutes idiocy.) Tommy’s father, Big Tom, asks snobby intellectual Richard Hayden (Spade) to prepare his son for running the company someday.

Big Tom (Brian Denehe) is not as dumb as his son, but announces his engagement to a seductive opportunist played by Bo Derrick. Her “son” (Rob Lowe) is really the lover she will split a handsome divorce settlement with. Their plan is simplified when Big Tom dies on his wedding day. Suddenly, Tommy and David must team up to save the company from a takeover by zany evil guy Dan Akroyd, who is working in cahoots with Derrick and Lowe.

Farley is a comic whiz when in his element. He displays anger and frustration with a style all his own. Spade was born to play the snyde Richard. In moments here and there, these two get laughs.