Rob Lowe inside joke

Rob Lowe was friends with Chris Farley, and did 'Tommy Boy' as a favour to him. The reason he appears uncredited, as in 'Mulholland Falls' too, is that he was under contractual obligation to appear on four episodes of Stephen King's 'The Stand' which he appeared on as it ran through 1995, and was thus unable to be credited in any other films during that time period (the film timeline on Rob Lowe's Imdb page supports this).

Often, when an actor is uncredited in a film, it is by his own choosing, but he isn't allowed to say why. Often it is because the actor dislikes the film, has a dispute with the actors, director or writer(s) over something such as pay, or is contractually bound to another project (as in Rob Lowe's case). Director's can also choose to do this, and the film then becomes an 'Alan Smithee' film, but again, the director is not allowed to talk about why he left the film. This rule is in place so that a film will not be denounced or given a bad reputation before it is released into cinemas, potentially affecting sales and profits if the actor or director who abandoned the project denounce it (either out of spite, or genuine belief that the film is a POS).

I don't know why, but I have always loved 'Tommy Boy'. I've watched it hundreds of times, always finding something new, and I die of laughter each and every time I see it. It is my favourite comedy film of all time, and one of my favourite films, period. However, I also understand why not everyone likes it, and some consider it bland or uninventive; I can't explain why I like it myself, I just do, but you have to admit, it's much better than most of the comedic crap out there today, such as romcoms, parodies or remakes, which just aren't funny, period. It used to be that even bad comedies used to make you laugh at least, even if they were rip offs and had a lousy story, but not anymore.

As for Rob Lowe being left uncredited, I was always curious as to why. I assumed it was because he was unhappy with appearing in such a 'juvenile' film such as a comedy, and was embarrassed with the role because he wanted to be seen as a more serious actor in more serious films. His character also acts out of place with the rest of the film (i.e. Tommy's antics irritate him intensely, he quickly grows bored with the dance scene at the wedding, looking down at his watch at one point, and during several scenes of dialogue looks like he'd rather be doing something better with his time). However, this was simply great character acting, as it turns out the lack of credit was contractual problems rather than personal issues, which was fantastic to know, because he's a great actor, especially in 'Tommy Boy', where he plays a perfect, deadpan character. He also appeared in 'Wayne's World' in 1992, along with all three 'Austin Powers' movies, and as a guest voice actor on 'Family Guy' to boot, which destroys the notion of him being a serious actor only wanting to take serious roles, and being embarrassed with anything less that he was forced to appear in to earn a living or as a favour to others.