Almost Heroes — the Chris Farley movie that deserves your attention
Chris Farley is remembered today for his hilariously energetic performances on Saturday Night Live and movies like Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. When people speak of Chris they speak of him warmly but honestly. Hindsight makes his battle with addiction as easy to identify as the genius of his comedic performances. Perhaps that is why his final performance in Almost Heroes, released just six months after he passed away, garnered poor reviews or largely went unnoticed by his rapidly growing fanbase.
Putting that aside, if we allow the best of Chris Farley to endure in our own memories then there is one last great performance that we should all be able to enjoy alongside that of his most celebrated acts.
Farley described his own acting style as one character played to varying degrees. Many argue he had far more range and nuance than he gets credit for but maybe Chris was right, and that’s not a bad thing. His style wasn’t subtle, it was consistent, and when he wasn’t bringing his unique energy he was engaging in big physical comedy often leveraging his size for the extra laugh. In Tommy Boy alone he runs head first into a fence, passes out on a living room table after a bong hit, gets hit with a crane in his dad’s factory, gets trampled by cows, chokes on an airplane life preserver, and gets knocked out with a 2x4. But hey, “Tommy want wingy”.
Take a few moments to see his performances as he would describe them in this scene from Black Sheep, this SNL skit as Matt Foley a motivational speaker, or his skit for decaf colombian coffee crystals. All uniquely and familiarly Chris Farley.
But Chris did have the ability to bring you down to earth with these underrated deliveries of selflessness, humility, sadness, loneliness, and loyalty — all generally associated with a desire for his character to be accepted by those around him. Something that echoes experiences in his real life.
I often wonder what Farley’s IMDB page would look like today had he had more years with us. I always pictured him in movies like Old School or The Hangover. He was slated to be the voice of Shrek and who knows what kind of amazing voiceover work he could have brought to the screen over the years with his unique sound.
Consider the standing Chris Farley holds in the comedic pantheon. He isn’t always top of mind but when brought into the discussion he ends up closer to the top rather than the bottom of peoples list of greatest comedians of all time. Both perhaps having to do with his small body of work beyond his SNL years with his best years seemingly ahead of him.
That brings us to his final performance in Almost Heroes which does not get the love or attention it deserves. When I think of Chris Farley I physically feel a sense of loss and I know so many who feel the same. Yet too many fans I have encountered have never heard of the movie and if they have, never saw it. The truth is it’s no Tommy Boy. Every actor has that one performance that largely rises above the rest and that is Okay.
Watch it with fresh eyes and consider the following.
The set-up is brilliant. The plot follows the story of the secret second party assembled by President Thomas Jefferson to chart a pathway to the pacific in the event Lewis and Clark don’t succeed. A plausible enough concept perfectly constructed to then take off the rails with the comedy styles of Chris Farley and Matthew Perry.
With distance from his loss and the filmography we have, many acknowledge David Spade and Chris Farley’s performances as among the best comedic duos of all time and rightfully so. But I also saw a refreshing and complimentary balance to the Perry and Farley duo. Perry is perfectly suited to the hoity toity high society softy that is his character as is the rugged, drunken, crude frontiersman that is Farley.
The movie is graced with a cast of “that guys” and the likes of Bokeem Woodbine and Eugene Levy. It’s a mashup of personalities all contributing to a damn funny adventure comedy. If you like what Perry and Farley usually deliver, you’ll get plenty of it in the movie. That is why I love it.
Now that Chris is gone I want just a little bit more of exactly what he always did best. If you turn yourself over to the premise, embrace the predictable comedy styles of Perry and Farley, the compliments of the supporting cast, and the sort of madness that would ensue in an 1800’s wild America then I think you’ll enjoy the movie as much as I did.
If anything, it’s a chance to go on one last journey with an actor that simply just made us all laugh and feel good.
