Matthew Perry Starred In A Forgotten '90s Western Comedy With Chris Farley

The Western comedy is a frontier-fronted subgenre with results scattered all over the place. Rip-roaring laughfests like Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles," "Three Amigos!," and the Mel Gibson vehicle "Maverick" rode off into the sunset as classic hoedowns viewers could partake in time and time again, regardless of whether they were instant successes or cult classics. Other films, like Will Smith's steampunk Western "Wild Wild West," based on the groundbreaking sci-fi Western TV series of the same name, lost their respective shootouts.

Unfortunately, another attempt at Western glory, the Chris Farley and Matthew Perry movie "Almost Heroes," met the same fate as the latter projects, and resides with a slew of other forgotten Western comedies up on Boot Hill. "Almost Heroes" follows Farley and Perry as two hapless, wannabe Lewis and Clark explorers who set out on a misguided quest to hit the Pacific Ocean before the aforementioned historic duo does. The film, along with 1998's "Dirty Work," marked one of two posthumous films for Farley, who died in 1997.

On paper, the ill-fated comedy should have struck gold. In addition to starring comedy royalty with the iconic "Saturday Night Live" and "Friends" stars, the wagon was also steered by director Christopher Guest, who's revered for cult classic mockumentary yuk-fests like "This is Spinal Tap," "Waiting for Guffman," and "Best in Show," and who also appeared in one of Rob Reiner's best films, "The Princess Bride." Unfortunately, "Almost Heroes" didn't attract crowds the same way Guest's other sideshows did, and ultimately was buried somewhere in cinema history with a faded tombstone.

"Almost Heroes" isn't a hit the same way Chris Farley favorites like "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep" or Christopher Guest-helmed cult films like "A Mighty Wind" are. Critics immediately put the film in the stockade and threw tomatoes at it, as told by its meager 5% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which would barely register a drop in any spittoon. CNN reviewer Paul Tatara beat up the film for its perceived juvenile humor and unintelligent antics. "All of the guys on the expedition are dumb, and they say and do dumb things in dumb ways, dumbly," he said.

It also wrangled a middling average score of 2.7 out of 5 stars on Letterboxd. On top of its critical woes, "Almost Heroes" managed to rustle up only $6.1 million at the box office on a $30 million budget. Like any poorly-received flicks, the Farley and Perry comedy isn't completely dead in the dust, despite its initially unfavorable response. Its 65% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes greatly defies critics' temperature on the film, while its average 5.8 out 10 stars on IMDb indicates a lukewarm or indifferent response. Thus, it seems some viewers might see "Almost Heroes" as a comedy hero, or at least casual bystander.