The film grossed $25 million on a $19 million budget, making it a modest box office success, but was seen as an overall disappointment especially considering Chevy Chase's popularity as a comic actor in the 1980s with a handful of box office hits. It was released during a very busy summer movie season. The Tom Hanks comedy "Big", now considered a classic comedy, opened the very same day and became one of the year's highest grossing films while "Crocodile Dundee II" was in its second week of release and also became one of the year's biggest hits. Other releases throughout the summer including "Coming to America", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and "Die Hard" all were very high-grossing films giving "Funny Farm" a slim chance of high box office results in comparison. Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam has also said he felt the film did not do as well as hoped because Chase was known at the time for doing edgier comedies such as "National Lampoon's Vacation" and his fans were expecting similar humor from this film as a result.