Review of Very Bad Things

Introduction

Bachelor parties, or stag nights as we prefer to call them over here, are the stuff of legend. No wedding is complete without one or the wacky post-night stories that move into legend to be recalled by the protagonists over a pint or two. Wedding organisation hitches are also the stuff of legend and over-excitable brides and mothers. Arguments over seating to what type of flowers will go on each table, what type of seats everyone gets to sit on, etc, etc. Director and writer Peter Berg tries to bring both of these things together in a very black comedy originally released in 1998.

Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau) is getting married to Laura Garrity (Cameron Diaz), an uptight ex-sorority girl who breaks down over the smallest detail going wrong with her wedding. Kyle is about to go to Las Vegas with his four mates, on a bachelor party organised by psychotic estate agent Boyd (Christian Slater). Boyd has organised drugs, drink and a stripper for the boys big night in the bright lights of a big city.

Incredibly the night goes horrendously wrong. First the stripper winds up dead through some rather over-enthusiastic sex with Michael (Jeremy Piven). Boyd lets rip with his self-help book leadership skills and convinces the others that the best thing to do is not dial 911, but bury her out in the desert. The things get worse when the man from Hotel Security comes knocking at the door to tell them to keep the noise down. Pretty soon an accidental death is joined by deliberate murder and a conspiracy to cover things up.

As with all conspiracies, however, things begin to unravel quickly. Arriving back home pretty subdued after the events of the previous night, Michael`s married brother Adam (Daniel Stern) starts to crack under the strain. This brings the group together more in an attempt to keep everything under wraps, which displeases Laura who is still worrying about her forthcoming nuptials.

Video

Good enough picture I guess, clear with no sign of any damage (unlike the script).

Audio

Functional soundtrack, nothing special to write home about. No subtitles of any kind.

Features

Nothing whatsoever…

Conclusion

This film had an interesting premise, but unfortunately it got lost in a mass of hysterics. On the whole, it had some interesting characters and some valid observations about the human condition, but I just didn`t find anything about the situation funny. Maybe it`s just me, but I just couldn`t find any sympathy with any of the characters or the whole situation. The accidental death would have been ok I guess, but then deliberately killing someone-else just screwed that all up.

The acting was bit hit and miss, I found Christian Slater to be the pick of the crop, even though his character did a complete u-turn near the end of the film. Daniel Stern was totally over the top as the one who breaks down under the strain, a performance that isn`t a million miles away from his character in City Slickers or even Home Alone, just a lot more hysterical (and not in a funny way either…). Cameron Diaz also plays a completely unsympathetic character that clearly gets her just deserts in the end, but at least she got her perfect wedding.

There appear to be two reactions to this film, a bit like The Mystery Men. You`ll either love it or loathe it. There doesn`t appear to be any ground in between. I loved the latter, but loathed this one completely and am unsurprised it`s taken this long to get a DVD release. Avoid.