ALMOST HEREOES (C+) is a surprising follow-up film from director Christopher Guest after the quirky 1996 hit Waiting for Guffman. The film is a comedic take on the Lewis and Clark journey. Instead of Lewis and Clark however, we follow a second team of explorers (trying to beat Lewis and Clark to the Pacific) led by Matthew Perry's rich and elitist Leslie Edwards and Chris Farley's bawdy and loud Bartholomew Hunt. Perry and Farley assemble a ragtag roster of helpers who provide a lot of the colorful moments in the story. Those knowledgeable about Guest's improv heavy mockumentary style will be surprised that Almost Heroes is largely a conventional historical comedy with large helpings of a quirky character comedy moments. There's a lot of really silly and broad jokes here and their hit/miss rate is 50/50 for me and will likely be more like 10/90 for most people. Unfortunately, this is not one of Farley's best roles. Sure, he's got some funny moments, but most of the time he's forced to overact and be a boorish character that just doesn't use his best traits. Matthew Perry fares better here with his sarcastic smarm fitting well with his elitist commander. There's a couple of funny set pieces here with my favorite being Farley's search/fight for eggs to save a sick Perry. As for the "western exploration" aspect - there's a classic adventurous score and loads of location shooting to help make up for comedy you don't like. This is a fairly uneven Western comedy that I find to be a bit of a guilty pleasure connecting with me on some of its go for broke broad jokes that just make me laugh (like the old warriors they come across to help them in battle.)
Review of Almost Heroes
