Review: Very Bad Things
Starring: Jon Favreau, Christian Slater, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Stern, Leland Orser, Jeremy Piven
Directed by Peter Berg
There aren't many films which have such an appropriate title. Very Bad Things is very telling of what you are going to see if you view this picture. It starts off pretty bad, then gets VERY bad. Actually, it gets worse. This is truly an evil picture. I kind of liked it.
Jon Favreau and Cameron Diaz are about to get married. He seems aimless in life, she is set on only one thing, getting married, and it doesn't really matter to whom. All she wants is to walk down the aisle. Try and stop her. Favreau and his buddies head off to Las Vegas for a rowdy and raunchy batchelor party which includes, among other things, cocaine, pot, and a strippin' hooker. Once the Jeremy Piven character accidentally jams her head into a bathroom wall hook while having wild sex, the madness begins. The film's most despicable character (Slater) pushes the group to cut her up into itty bitty pieces and bury her in the desert. "No one knows she's here, I called her personally," he reasons. Just as the group decides to forego leagal action, a hotel security guard enters the room and finds them out. Slater's character takes it upon himself to do away with him (using nothing but a handy corkscrew). Now they are in deep doo-doo. So they have two bodies to cut up an bury. Then they have to "reassemble" the sawed up parts for religious purposes. It is after this that the film gets nasty.
Yep, Very Bad Things is full of very bad things. In actuality, most of the gore comes with what I've already told you. But everything that takes place after that is just evil.
Though there are a few funny moments, Very Bad Things, despite what you may have read, is NOT very funny. It is the definition of black comedy. In fact, it may redefine the genre. The film is truly sick, and snowballs into whatever is past sick. Much of the audience reaction is nervous laughter. You can't believe what you are seeing, so you laugh, much like seeing a close up of male genitals caught in a zipper in There's Something About Mary, or male goo hanging off the side of someone's face in the same film. It isn't funny in and of itself, but you certainly aren't expecting it, so you laugh.
Favreau gives a solid performance, despite having a one dimensional character. Slater is perfectly cast as the worst among a bunch of bad dudes. Most surprising is Jeremey Piven, who does a great job of going bonkers as the film progresses. Diaz is wasted in this very small role. She plays a real bitch with very little character, and one wonders if she just took the part because she liked the script aside from her role.
The squeamish should avoid the bathroom dismembering scene. Those that want a redeeming film, should go see something else. And those who want to see just how whacked one mind can get (Peter Berg's mind, he wrote and directed) should definitley see it.
* * 1/2 out of * * * * stars ©1998 Nick Amado
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