Our old pal Trigger has kicked over the Oat Barrell he's so excited about this flick. Father Geek here saw Very Bad Things out in LA about a month ago and I can tell you that this movie is a hell-of-a-ride. Trigger feels it is nothing to winnie about and he includes some spoilers in the report below. So be fore-warned.NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY...NNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!
This is Trigger again... maybe you remember me maybe not... I just saw a preview of Very Bad Things... oh my god... it rocked! Very Cool. I didn't see a review or preview of it here (I didn't look too hard), so I guess I'll do one... I'm gonna include some spoilers (perhaps all spoilers), so if you are the type that like suprises, just skip over the spoiler parts... I'll let you know when one's coming... I don't feel like looking up the names of the actors for the nerds, so I'll just go with "the guy who..." =)
First off... I'll briefly go through my day (this won't take too long)... I had been working on cars and fighting with my girlfriend and in fact had been told to bring her shit to her work tomorrow - I guess that meant we were through - but we worked it out when I got back from the movie in case you were wondering... Anyway... I was all burned up about women and the whole relationship thing and wanted to do something fun. I went to the theatre with my movie buddy (we seem to always have a good time at a movie even if it sucks ass... we didn't stop laughing when we watched Eraser and we have the same taste in movies - we rarely like a movie or think it's good) just to see whatever movie - leaning towards Clay Pigeons. Clay P wasn't playing at 7:30, so I asked the ticket guy why. He said cuz there was a private screening in that theatre. I asked him what one and he said "Bad Stuff" and made a face as if to say that it sucked. I had seen the lame ass poster for it and a preview which looked like alot of other movies, but it sounded better than night at the roxbury or antz or ronin. So we bought a ticket to Antz and walked into the theatre with the sneak peek movie in it instead (oh like you've never done that - don't look at me like that)... we had missed about 10 minutes I think and the theatre was like 70% full. We had spent about 5 minutes getting sodas and gummy bears (as usual - that's our M.O.). The sound kept cutting out and the music was all distorted - like they should clean the heads on the projectors or something - but it wasn't that bad or distracting (it would've been if this movie was lame).
************ SPOILER *************
Here's what it's about... I'll let you know when I'm done... These 5 guys (friends since gradeschool) - Daniel Stern, Christian Slater, 2 guys from P.C.U - the star of that movie and the fat punk rock dude (I think it was him - either it was him or the married guy from Brothers McMullen - same guy?), and some guy with glasses who I recognized but couldn't place - all go to Vegas for a bachelor party for the P.C.U. fat punker dude who's getting married to Cameron Diaz... The P.C.U. star (he's been in a million movies, but I can't remember his name... he's cool though) is brothers with Daniel Stern... anyway... they go to Vegas to party and they get ripped and smoke pot and do coke and talk about their jobs and wives and stuff and then a stripper shows up. The stripper turns out to be a hooker and P.C.U. star takes her in the bathroom to hump her standing up. He gets a bit rough and accidentally kills her by slamming her head against a coat hook. They freak out and decide to bury her in the desert - christian is all take charge about it and level headed and calm while Daniel Stern is freaking out trying to call the police... Just then hotel security shows up to see what all the noise was about and sees the body of the dead hooker... Christian kills him with a corkscrew... they freak out some more then go to the store to get cleaning supplies and suitcases and shovels... they cut up the bodies which is not only gross as hell, but was much fun to watch... they clean up and place the body parts in the suitcases... then go out to the desert and bury them. They decide to tell noone, but after a little while Daniel Stern starts sketching about it and gets paranoid. Meanwhile, Cameron Diaz is all gung - ho about getting married and is laying all this pressure on her hubby to be. At the dinner rehearsal, Daniel freaks out big and they all go outside and a fight ensues between daniel and P.C.U. star. PCU star ends up accidentally killing Daniel with his car. Then Daniel's wife finds a confession that was written by Daniel, so they at first tell her that her husband had a habit of screwing prostitutes, then Cristian kills her (she's a fighter though - great scene). Then Slater kills PCU star and makes it look like he killed Daniel's wife in a jealous rage and then killed himself... THEN... PCU punk guy and Cameron find out they're now in custody of Daniel's rotten kids and that they inherit their money (sum total of 14,000), and punk guy confesses the whole thing to Diaz... she doesn't seem to mind as long as they're still getting married... then it's wedding time... Diaz is at the altar and Slater starts choking punk guy saying he wants the inheritance money - not knowing it's only 14K... Diaz shows up and smashes Slater's face in with a coatrack... THEN... wedding begins and the last guy (guy with glasses) doesn't have the rings... Slater has em, but he's not dead, he drags himself up the stairs in time for glasses guy to open the door on him causing him to fall down the stairs to his final death - he gets the rings and blah blah the weddings done... so THEN Diaz makes her new hubby take all the bodies - including the first 2 and bury them in a new place AND instructs him to kill glasses guy and the dog (the dog came with the kids). I'm not sure what they worked out, but he decides not to kill glasses guy or the dog and they end up crashing head on into another car sending glasses guy through the window. The end has punk guy in a wheelchair with no legs and glasses guy in another wheelchair he has to move with his mouth on a joystick thing - like he's paralyzed from the neck down Cristopher Reeves style and the dog is even missing a leg... and the kids are still rotten and screaming and being little shits and Diaz freaks out and walks into the street screaming. phew... I know it doesn't make sense, but that's what happened...
************* END OF SPOILER***************
If you read the spoiler, the movie is alot cooler than it sounds... everything was timed perfectly. All the gags were funny as hell, and all the shocks were shocking. I don't shock easily, but this movie tripped me out. It was like "oh... that didn't shock you? well how about if we do this? no? well what about this?" and it was all unexpected (not all, but most of it). I liked all the characters and the dialogue was outstanding. There was enough characterization for me to be interested in what was happening to these people. I love this type of movie because it makes you root for the social deviants. My favorite type of movie is a "mind-fuck" movie (I had no idea Kevin Costner was the Russian spy in No Way Out - I yelled at the tv when I saw that and had to rewind the tape to make sure I heard it right) and this one qualifies. Again, I can't speak highly of the sound or music score cuz it was messed up by something they weren't doing right in the projection booth. I'm sure it was appropriate. The movie was professionally directed. It's a Peter Berg film... I never really liked him as an actor - I always thought he was kinda retarded or something. Everyone was believeable in their roles. I was thinking how hard it would be to be your character throughout the scopes of emotions these people went through. The cast did an outstanding job. Like I said, I don't like many movies, but I loved this one. I'm seeing it again. I usually have more to say about a movie when I don't like it, but I can't complain about this film. The only thing I didn't like was that the end left questions for me and this type of movie didn't need to do that. I would've liked to see a big punch line that just wrapped it up nice so I'd have left the theatre all tripped out. The comedy in this movie is very dark, but I couldn't stop laughing. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. This is a rare movie in that it tries to be both a dark comedy and a shock film and succeeds. I say go see it. That's about it for me... sorry about my grammar and spelling, but I was feeling more conversational and I'm tired... I've been up all night making up with my girlfriend. Harry, I hope you find a use for this - I'll keep sending you stuff out of the love of film though.
Trigger
