Review of Very Bad Things (1998) by Steve J — 10 Dec 2007

I went to see Very Bad Things based entirely on seeing one commercial. At first, I was afraid I'd been led astray. The movie starts out looking a lot like a romantic comedy. Lucky for me, I kept reminding myself that the title and the one preview had suggested much more and continued to watch. If you can handle the first 15 minutes, it's a great movie.

Very Bad Things is one of the best dark comedies released since Heathers, and Christian Slater puts in another great performance as the likable guy who just happens to be evil incarnate. In fact, it's easy to see this as being almost a sequel to Heathers, with Jason Dean surviving the bomb and changing his name. Slater plays Robert Boyd, a sleazy real estate agent who sets up a bachelor party in Vegas for his buddy Fisher (Jon Favreau). It's a great party until their friend Michael (Jeremy Piven) accidentally kills the hooker they've hired for the night. Straight arrow (and Michael's brother) Adam (Daniel Sterne) realizes that the right thing to do is report things to the police, but before he makes the call Boyd comes up with a better plan--they can smuggle the girl out of the hotel and bury her in the desert. After all, nobody knows she's there. Since the other option is hoping that only Michael takes the fall, everyone agrees.

Then things start to go downhill. The guys have to kill a hotel security guard, meaning there's no turning back. So they go to the all night superstore to pick up what they'll need for the job. It's one of the best scenes in the movie. No dialog, just the actors walking through a Wal-Mart late at night with looks of grim determination and an increasingly bizarre collection of merchandise. They return to the hotel, cut the bodies up, bury them in the desert, and head home for the wedding.

Of course, that's not the end. Paranoia and guilt prey upon the group, causing them to fight, argue, and kill one another until pretty much everyone in the movie reaps what they've sown.

Very Bad Things is a great movie, but you can't help but feel a little guilty about enjoying it. The closest person in the group to a "nice guy" is Adam, and he's such a dork that you can't really feel much sympathy. Pretty much everybody else in the group is evil, malicious, or at least weak willed. You may be able to convince yourself that you like it because everyone gets what they deserved, but in reality that's just the icing on the cake--it's just as much fun watching them be bad as it is seeing their bad karma catch up to them.

Very Bad Things has great acting, great writing, and a great plot. It's rare to laugh so hard and be so deeply disturbed at the same time.