Very Bad Things

Rating:
Summary: "Did you ask about the chairs?"
Review: Let me preface my review by saying that "Very Bad Things" is not for everybody. It was the first movie I'd ever seen where people walked out of the cinema within the first half hour. Possibly just after the scene with the stripper in the bathroom...
Let me begin my review by saying that I love this movie. It slaps us in the face with several themes we'd really rather not think about and forces us to for an opinion on situations we'll hopefully never have to encounter. In many ways the movie resembles "Kill Bill vol. 1." in that the totally over-the-top nature of the violence renders it cartoon-like and therefore meaningless. Pretend that this is set in an alternate universe if it makes you feel better...
The central theme explored in the movie is "Karma", the concept that what goes around comes around. The guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party that goes horribly wrong, and they all end up paying for it in different ways. Comparisons have been drawn between this movie and "Shallow Grave", but I'd also say that "Stag" and "Deliverance" are also valid reference points. Cameron Diaz plays the same character she does in "A life less ordinary", while Jon Favreau revisits "Mikey" from Swingers.
The movie is shockingly brutal in it's portrayal of the limits people will go to in order to lead a quiet life, and while the end of the movie does take on a somewhat farcical tone, it is ultimately nice to see the wheel of karma spin right round.
If you like black comedies, Vegas and Deliverance, you'll love Very Bad Things.

Rating:
Summary: Very Bad Indeed (3½ stars)
Review: This one was recommended to me by my sister, and I would have liked to say that I really enjoyed, but I didn't. It starts off with the groom-to-be Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau) leaving for Las Vegas with his four buddies (played by Leland Orser, Christian Slater, Daniel Stern, and Jeremy Piven) for a wild stag party. However, things go horribly wrong when the Asian stripper (played by Kobé Tai) is impaled, literally and metaphorically, to the wall. To cover this up, they kill the hotel security guard, then dismember and bury their remains in the desert. Even though they swear to secrecy, the problem doesn't go away, and soon they're killing more people and turning on each other.

A lot of the characters in "Very Bad Things" are very unredeemable and it's hard to feel any sympathy for them (Boyd, for one, played by Slater), save for perhaps Adam (Daniel Stern), who has an overactive conscience. And as for being a comedy--I don't think so. It's very violent. Horror fans might like this--however, being one, I wasn't expecting this; I was expecting a dark comedy. I only laughed a few times when some of the guys got what they deserved, but more than not I was grimacing. So, yeah, in a twisted way it is funny, but this isn't a movie I'd necessarily recommend, unless you're really into black, black--and I mean black--comedies. It's almost an acquired taste.

In summary: as a comedy it was bad, very bad; but as a thriller, it was good. So, the movie averages out to 3½ stars for me.

Rating:
Summary: A good Hollywood film
Review: I just saw this film, and I must say what a good film. Much better than the usual bubblegum fare you see people like Cameron Diaz in.

The only downer is that it seems a little bit like the Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave - also about a group of friends who do whatever it takes to get and stay ahead who end up going crazy and being totally paranoid with each other.

Note Shallow Grave was released 4 years before Very Bad Things. So I think some Hollywood exec saw that film and decided to make an American black comedy based on a similar premise. However I do recommend both films for anyones insane collection.

Rating:
Summary: Peter directs a dark comedy that begins good then runs out
Review: Christian Slater, Jeremy Piven, Jon Favreau,Daniel Stern and Leland Oser go to Vegas and have them selves a bachelor party with a sexy stripper and then it turns out that she turns up dead, also a security guard too. bummer. they get rid of the evidence and take a pact that they wont tell anyone what really happend. but bad habits surface close to Favreaus wedding and Stern flips out and ends up dead. Janeane Tripplehorn suspects some foul play and then she ends up dead, with Jeremy Piven. Christian Slater goes bezerk and attacks Leland Oser and Favreau at the wedding. Cameron Diaz kills him or at least she things she did, but Oser actually kills him by making him fall down a flight of stairs. dark and sometimes comical, this one goes way to dark and ends up somewhat of a thriller more than a comedy. the comedy ends up coming back at the end. not the most worst film of all time but it had some moments. Berg did an ok job on this but it runs out of steam along the way.

Rating:
Summary: Very bad flick
Review: Writer/director Peter Berg's bio on the DVD states: "Peter Berg is a member of a small, elite group of performers and filmmakers who are creating vehicles for their multiple talents". It seems to logically follow that satisfied viewers must likewise be a member of a "small, elite" group of viewers who think that disgusting trash is an art form. As you can see from the huge number of negative reviews here at Amazon.com, most viewers of this movie were not part of that "small, elite" group. If you are not sure, your best bet is to rent before buying (and bring your barf bag).

Rating:
Summary: Unentertaining violence
Review: I have seen quite a few black comedies where the violence in the film adds to the whole plot. In "Very Bad Things", the violence is just there to sicken. Diaz and Slater should be ashamed to put their names to this garbage - it really shows a sad and twisted side of life that is just disturbing. I have never seen so many people - myself included - walk out on a film before.

Rating:
Summary: Bad very bad however it was the movie not the name.
Review: The first scenes set the stage. A discussion by the newly weds to be about what was or wasn't done. By the time we got to the party in Vegas I was ready to turn off the film and hoped he would dump the twit he was marrying.

There was not a laugh in sight and it stayed and stayed and stayed that way for the rest of the film. It just wasn't funny. Now if I had been five years old, yeah I could have found some of the scenes worth a chuckle. Unfortunately humor tends to grow up. Dark? Not in the least. Rather like a bad slasher flick which at least I laugh at this didn't even make that grade. Black Humor? No stupid humor. Screaming PSM stereotypes can be funny done properly with proper settings. The bride just came off irritating and the last thing you want is an irritating character. The rest were flat. The big question was "Where's the joke?" AH buying the film was the joke. It got tossed immediately. Could have bought a burger instead.

I did some skimming to see if it was worth it on my DVD and found nothing worth staying more than a few seconds for after all I had two other films I had just purchased and knew one of them was a winner.

The scenes are loud. They are so stereotypical it isn't worth a glance. Five fools get in trouble. Everyone around them is out for themselves and the happy ending is simply the twit gets hers. Basically they could have saved a LOT of film and put the last few minutes after the start and it would have yielded the same result. Nothing worth noting at all on this one. No deep insight except eveyone needed a paycheck that week. Bad acting, bad direction and never got off the ground. Rent it if you must see. Pulp fiction it ain't. Pap it is.

Rating:
Summary: A Supreme Example of Black Comedy
Review: What distinguishes black comedy from it's more mainstream counterpart is the element of the macabre and disturbing.

"Very Bad Things" is one of the more disturbing movies I have ever seen--it can be physically uncomfortable to watch the movie, but fascinating nonetheless. Perhaps the prime example of this is the early scene in the movie with the hooker and the man who inspects the noise.

The plotline is an interesting concotion. Five friends attend a bachelor's party in a Las Vegas hotel, wherein the prostitute hired for their entertainment is accidentally killed whilst having sex with the brother of the groom. From there the movie spirals into a mess of murder and chaos. The characters exhibit great depth as they attempt to cope with their acts and the attempted coverup, while the act of murder destroys them both inwardly and outwardly, as the tightly-knit group of friends begin to violently turn on each other.

There's a notion of either supreme cosmic irony or karma (depending on your point of view) as the last scene fills the screen.

Human complexes come to the fore throughout, from Carmen Diaz's unstoppable and insane need to go through with the wedding at whatever cost, to Christian Slater's ego-driven lust for power to the point where power and control is a death urge. In the process, the frailties of each person become absolutely hilarious. The function of humor serves two goals in this movie: to keep the audience from nausea and despair, and to drive home the point that the lengths people will go to protect their own interests in the face of all obstacles and against all morality is ultimately a destructive drive that also from a God-like perspective seems so ridiculous that it's just downright stupid.

It's no accident we don't feel sympathy for any of the characters except perhaps the one who seeks to repent and the initial murder victims.

The film is an indictment against us for acting this way--driven by power and greed, self-serving animals that are guided entirely by our own peculiar mental illnesses. When we seek to protect ourselves within the framework of a social group, the will of the group will retract to it's originators--the group becomes a mass of self-serving beasts running at conflicting aims. Death is the only result. In moral terms when we perpetuate evil, we invite it in kind for the very simple reason that like attracts like. Karma, baby.

I'm not sure this was the original intention of the movie, but this is the way I read it. Ultimately it's a fascinating movie that has three levels of appeal: to begin with, visceral comedy or intellectual stimulation. But the problem with this is that these two are often mutually exclusive. The third is an absorption in the one without the expense of the other. Approach it in your own way, but remember that its comedic aspect is no less important than its thematic one.

Rating:
Summary: Look at the title, people.
Review: The movie is called "Very Bad Things". What did you expect? Complaining about this movie because it contains very bad things, is almost as bad as complaining about "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" because it contains a Texas chainsaw massacre.
If you think "black comedy" means primetime UPN, you should probably stick to watching Jim Carrey talk out of his butt.
If you're one of the few people smart enough to know what it really means, and you like it, you'll probably enjoy "Very Bad Things".

Rating:
Summary: good flick
Review: eh..what can i say.....this is a great movie..very original, entertaining, and dark...give it a chance and watch it!