In 1804, Leslie Edwards, a foppish aristocrat, and the loud, low-brow Bartholomew Hunt are competing against the renowned Lewis & Clark to be the first to chart and make it across the United States to the Pacific Ocean.

In the beginning of the film, Edwards has high hopes to head the first expedition to make it across the United States, but while he has ambition and funding, he has grown up sheltered and knows little of the wilderness he seeks to cross.

They are aided by a crew of varied, rugged and grizzled frontiersmen, including the group's version of Sacagawea, a young Indian woman by the name Shaquinna, who is integral in helping them find their way across the dangerous and unknown terrain ahead, as well as eventually becoming Edwards' love interest.

Along the way, the group goes through various mishaps and ordeals such as having to deal with quirky, indigenous Indian tribes and vicious animals, a Conquistador named Hidalgo, as well as running out of food and romantic snafus, as Hunt's ineptness often causes more problems than it solves.

The writers originally wanted to offer the role of Leslie Edwards to Hugh Laurie; at that point, he was a star only in the United Kingdom, so Turner executives wished for a more recognizable actor.

A town representing St. Louis c. 1804 was constructed at Reading Island park on the Sacramento River, east of Cottonwood, California, and a Native American village set was built upriver.

The website's consensus reads: "A sorry swan song for the talented Chris Farley, Almost Heroes is a directionless comedy that doesn't even come close to triumph.

"[5] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film one out of four stars and wrote: "This is a dreadful motion picture - a lowbrow example of period piece comedy with terrible production values and an exceptionally poor laughs-to-jokes ratio.

There's a kind of desperation in the movie's approach to humor that reveals the film makers' uncertainty about how entertaining the material is; the manic style betrays itself as a last-ditch attempt to hide the flaws of a failed script.

"[7] John R. McEwen of Film Quips Online wrote: "It's clear, his death notwithstanding, that Farley is the funniest thing about this... As expected, there is little here but sight gags and low humor, but if you're in the mood (and I must have been), it has its laugh-out-loud moments.

Additional appearances by people like Eugene Levy and Kevin Dunn, and others, add to the hilarity, although many of the jokes fall flat...I doubt if anyone ever expected Chris Farley to win an Academy Award.