VERY BAD THINGS ***1/2 (out of five stars) A review by Jamey Hughton
Starring-Christian Slater, Jon Favreau, Daniel Stern, Cameron Diaz, Jeremy Piven, Leland Orser and Jeanne Tripplehorn Director-Peter Berg Rated R Released 1998 Polygram Reviewed September 1999
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A more appropriate title for Very Bad Things would be Absolutely Disgusting Things That Defy Belief. The movie is indescribably nasty; so graphically violent that it may cause your stomach to do a somersault as you valiantly attempt to hold your cookies. For those who can withstand it, and (most importantly) aren't easily offended, Very Bad Things is a refreshingly daring black comedy boasting an admirable courage as it goes completely overboard (and then some...) into bad taste.
I would encourage those you want to truly experience this film to not read any reviews, and just plunge straight into the grotesque, macabre proceedings that resemble a mixture of Shallow Grave and Quentin Tarantino. But for everyone else, here is the process in which the plot takes off:
1) Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau) and his fiancee Laura (Cameron Diaz) are preparing for their wedding. But first, Kyle and four of his typical guy friends - Adam (Daniel Stern), Michael (Jeremy Piven), Boyd (Christian Slater) and Charles (Leland Orser) - are off to Vegas for a bachelor party. Once in their hotel, the five immediately suck back an ample amounts of alcohol and drugs.
2) A stripper arrives. After entertaining the group for a few minutes, she heads into the bathroom with Michael for a particularly frisky round of wall-slamming sex. Unfortunately, Michael forces her against the wall in a hazardous place, impaling the stripper on a towel hook. After informing the other four about the accident, Adam suggests they call the police. Boyd steps forward and recaps the situation, saying they would all be risking jail time if they told the authorities. He suggests Plan B: take the stripper out in the middle of the desert, and bury her where no one will ever know. Or, as Boyd puts it: `We have a 105 pound problem that we have to get from point A to point B.'
3) The group decides to bury the body in the desert, just as hotel security knocks on the door. After entering, the guard notices the stripper in the reflection of a mirror. He runs to check the girl's pulse, and the others hover around the door in frightened shock. But Boyd grabs a corkscrew from the counter and stabs the guard twice in the chest, blocking the doorway as he bleeds to death in the bathroom. Now, as Boyd informs them, they have two bodies to dispose of.
4) But first, a trip to the grocery store, where certain items (shovels, plastic bags, etc.) are picked up. The group returns to the hotel, where they clean up the blood spattered bathroom. Boyd, using an electric turkey carver, hacks up the bodies so they can be transported by suitcase and buried in the desert. The spare parts are sealed in plastic wrap, and the five take off to finish the deed.
If you think this is almost unbearable after reading about it, I wouldn't suggest you watch the movie. Actually, there is much more to the story after the friends return home, and attempt to carry on their lives in petrified horror. Stern, in particular, does a marvelously convincing job of portraying a middle-aged good Samaritan who experiences a gradual mental breakdown. The scene involving his frustrated desperation to find `Whizzers' in a convenience store (for his screaming kids) is extremely funny, as Adam's paranoia gets away from him.
Some people may not find this funny at all. But I found that director Peter Berg (an actor, best known from Chicago Hope) nicely draws the line to prevent this from toppling over into a macabre horror movie. The occasional scene is perfectly realized, and you laugh (sometimes in disbelief) at the lengths Berg has taken this outlandish situation. There are standout performances from Stern, Slater (on a highly believable psychopath auto-pilot) and Ellen's Jeremy Piven. For the main protagonist, Favreau is almost too bland and lifeless for the movie surrounding him.
As I expected, the formula doesn't last for the running time. Character's actions get out of hand, and Berg runs out of clever detours to take. But when Very Bad Things is good, it's excellent - capturing some of the finest black comedy ever caught on screen. Or maybe `black' is too light a word...
(C) 1999, Jamey Hughton
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