How ‘Unfiltered’ Can An Authorized Chevy Chase Documentary Really Be?

Variety today reported all the production details about I’m Chevy Chase… And You’re Not, an upcoming documentary that promises to be both “authorized” and “unfiltered.” Doubtful. If Chase himself authorizes the story, you can bet the filters will be turned on full force.

That’s not even a knock on Chase, necessarily. A biography that’s approved by its subject will almost certainly sand over the rough edges, no matter how honest or willing Chase intends to be. But there’s at least one good indicator that the documentary will pull its punches. That’s Rena Fruchter’s authorized biography that went by the same name: I’m Chevy Chase… And You’re Not. 

A glance at the top reviews on Goodreads provides insights into the book’s approach. “The author has no objectivity and consistently fawns over Chase,” wrote one reader. “This is expected in an authorized biography, but it was nauseating. Chase never made a mistake, if he made a bad movie it was always as a ‘favor,’ things on set were only bad when Chevy didn’t trust his instincts.”

The second review noted that “according to this book, the people in Hollywood who don’t like Chevy Chase just don’t understand how intelligent he is. I understand that the authorized biography of a person is likely to hide the subject’s flaws. But this went beyond biography into hagiography — no one could be as flawless as Chevy Chase is in this book.”

“A love letter to Chevy Chase, & not a very good one,” added another one-star review.

Chase’s authorized biography is so bad that even Chase panned it. The book is “hideous,” Chase told the Washington Post in 2018. “(Fruchter) had the sense of humor of an egg timer.” 

At least Fruchter got one thing out of Chase that SNL oral history Live From New York could not — a look at the comedian’s troubled childhood, littered with emotional and physical abuse. Will the documentary version of I’m Chevy Chase… And You’re Not explore this painful territory? 

As the Goodreads reviews suggest, probably not. His authorized biography ignores the sins that Cracked has documented over the years — no mention of being known as “the asshole around the office” during SNL’s first season; Johnny Carson’s disdain for him; returns to SNL that pissed off Jane Curtin, Terry Sweeney and Will Ferrell; Chris Columbus quitting National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation after Chase treated him “like dirt”; and Demi Moore calling him a “turd” for his on-set behavior.

And the biography was published before Chase went scorched earth on the set of Community, years full of racial insults and fistfights that could fill a book on their own.

A documentary about Chase requires interviews with the man himself, but an unauthorized version would be far more entertaining. From Bill Murray to Kevin Smith to Donald Glover to Joel McHale, there’s no shortage of coworkers and colleagues to share horror stories. That’s the documentary we want to see, but we’re stuck with the authorized version for now.