Almost Heroes Review
by Michael Dequina (michael_jordan AT geocities DOT com)June 10th, 1998
Hollywood Hotline Featured Review
Almost Heroes (PG-13) no stars
While he had a number of memorably funny moments during his starmaking stint on _Saturday_Night_Live_, the late Chris Farley's big-screen starring vehicles--_Tommy_Boy_, _Black_Sheep_, and _Beverly_Hills_Ninja_--ranged from bad, worse, to amusingly bad. Sad to say, his final film, _Almost_Heroes_, is every bit as sloppily made as his previous starring efforts--a virtually laugh-free comedy that puts a sad end to the woefully lackluster screen career of a talented comic.
It's hard to believe that Christopher Guest, who directed last year's smart and funny mockumentary _Waiting_for_Guffman_, helmed this disastrous enterprise. Then again, no director could have salvaged the witless script by Mark Nutter, Tom Wolfe, and Boyd Hale. Matthew Perry and Farley play Leslie Edwards and Bartholmew (sic) Hunt, two explorers determined to beat the legendary Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Northwest territories in 1804. Needless to say, the effete Edwards and the boorish Hunt are in over their heads, falling into a number of precarious, would-be comic situations (such as running into a merry band of evil conquistadors) en route to the Pacific. The odd-couple teaming of Perry and Farley sounds promising, but the two generate little comic chemistry. While this is partly the fault of the actors (a distracted-looking Perry seems more concerned over maintaining his uppity New England accent than selling one-liners), the script never gives them much opportunity to play off their contrasting comedic styles--Perry's deadpan wit and Farley's wild physicality. Instead, the writers succumb to the lazy trap that befell the scribes behind Farley's previous starring vehicles--jam as many "fat guy falls down" gags as possible.
This time around, though, these obvious gags have an underlying tone of sadness, since Farley's frustration with such gags has become well-noted after his death. Even more troubling are the gags centering on Hunt's alcohol consumption. These jokes would have been only moderately amusing at best had Farley lived to see this film's release, but in light of the substance abuse-related circumstances of his death, the gags come off even cheaper, not to mention all the more insulting to the late star.
In my review for another unscreened-for-critics (wonder why) from Warner Bros., the awful _Major_League:_Back_to_the_Minors_, I noted that not even the guy in the audience who laughs at just about anything let out a single chuckle throughout the movie. The most I can say about _Almost_Heroes_ is that the laughing guy was back in his element, greeting many a joke with explosions of laughter. Everyone else, though, was stonefaced and silent--at least those strong enough to not walk out of the auditorium.
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Michael Dequina
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
