Okay, fellow tape travelers, let's rewind to that strange twilight period of the late 90s. You're browsing the 'New Releases' wall at Blockbuster, the fluorescent lights humming overhead. Sandwiched between genuine hits and direct-to-video weirdness, you spot a familiar, tragically missed face: Chris Farley. Paired with peak-Friends fame Matthew Perry. The title? Almost Heroes (1998). Curiosity piqued, you grab the tape. What unfolds is... well, it's definitely something. A film carrying the distinct bittersweet air of being Farley's last starring vehicle, released just months after his untimely passing.
An Expedition into Goofball Territory
The premise itself is pure high-concept 90s comedy: a foppish, clueless aristocrat, Leslie Edwards (Matthew Perry), decides to beat Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean. His ace tracker? The loud, frequently drunk, and utterly inappropriate Bartholomew Hunt (Chris Farley). Together with a motley crew of misfits, including the hilariously odd French translator Guy Fontenot (Eugene Levy), they stumble westward, facing down irritable bears, hostile natives (played with varying degrees of cartoonishness), and their own staggering incompetence.
Directed by none other than Christopher Guest – yes, the maestro of subtle mockumentary genius behind Waiting for Guffman (1996) and Best in Show (2000) – Almost Heroes feels like an odd detour in his filmography. You can almost sense a tension between Guest's potential inclinations and the studio's desire for a broad, Farley-driven slapstick vehicle. Rumours persisted for years that Guest wasn't thrilled with the final cut, feeling it leaned too heavily into the lowest common denominator humour. Watching it now, you can see flashes of potentially sharper satire submerged beneath the pratfalls.
The Farley Factor: Physical Comedy as Practical Effect
Let's be honest, the main reason anyone rented this tape back then, or seeks it out now, is Chris Farley. And in that regard, Almost Heroes delivers exactly what you'd expect. Forget CGI wizardry; Farley was the practical effect. His commitment to physical comedy remains astonishing. He throws himself into every gag with terrifying abandon – whether he's wrestling a bear (a sequence that feels genuinely dangerous), accidentally ingesting hallucinogenic eggs, or simply bellowing nonsense at the top of his lungs. Remember how real those falls looked, how much sheer energy he poured into every scene? That wasn't wirework refinement; it was pure, unadulterated Farley. There's a raw, almost alarming intensity to his performance here, amplified by the knowledge that this was his swan song. It’s impossible to watch him careen through the wilderness without a pang of sadness for the comedic force we lost.
Perry, Levy, and the Supporting Blunderers
Matthew Perry, fresh off the Friends global phenomenon, plays the straight man, albeit a rather useless and pompous one. His dry, sarcastic delivery provides a necessary counterpoint to Farley's whirlwind energy. Their dynamic is the core of the film, and while it doesn't always spark comedic gold, there are moments where their contrasting styles mesh effectively. Eugene Levy, meanwhile, steals every scene he's in as the utterly bizarre Fontenot. His deadpan delivery of absurd lines ("Perhaps we should kill him and drink his blood?") is peak Levy, offering a glimpse of the more nuanced absurdity the film might have aimed for under different circumstances. The supporting cast, including familiar faces like Kevin Dunn and Bokeem Woodbine, fill out the band of hapless explorers competently enough.
A Product of Its Time (For Better or Worse)
Make no mistake, Almost Heroes is deeply rooted in late-90s comedic sensibilities. Some of the humour hasn't aged particularly well, relying on stereotypes and gags that feel broad even by the standards of the era. The film bombed spectacularly at the box office, pulling in less than $7 million against a reported $30 million budget – a rough landing compounded by the tragic timing of its release. Critics were largely unkind, dismissing it as crude and unfunny.
Yet, watching it on a fuzzy CRT screen (or, you know, your modern equivalent while imagining the fuzz), there's a certain clumsy charm. It's messy, uneven, and occasionally misfires spectacularly. But amidst the chaos, Farley’s sheer comedic power shines through, a supernova burning bright one last time. The ambition, however muddled, of sending up the historical epic genre with such lowbrow gusto has a certain nostalgic appeal. Did you ever catch this one late at night, perhaps channel surfing past the premium channels? It felt like a secret handshake find, even then.
VHS Heaven Rating: 5/10
Almost Heroes is far from a comedic masterpiece. Its flaws are readily apparent: uneven tone, jokes that fall flat, and a sense of unrealized potential, possibly stemming from that rumoured tension between director Christopher Guest's style and the broad comedy mandate. However, it stands as a vital, albeit poignant, final showcase for Chris Farley's unique brand of explosive physical comedy. His energy is the film's sputtering engine. Perry provides a decent foil, and Levy adds moments of genuine weirdness. It's a flawed relic, yes, but for Farley fanatics and connoisseurs of late-90s studio comedy oddities, it holds a strange, melancholy fascination.
Final Take: A historical comedy that trips over its own feet more often than not, saved from complete disaster by the raw, irreplaceable energy of its doomed star – a flickering, chaotic signal from the end of an era.