Very Bad Things *** (1998, Christian Slater, Jon Favreau, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Stern, Jeremy Piven, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Leland Orser) – Classic Movie Review 979

Writer-director Peter Berg’s 1998 black farce crime thriller is an intriguing mixed bag of grisly dark-toned fun. It can boast some Very Good Things (the star performances) as well as some Very Bad Things (the film’s climax).

In Berg’s story, a group of friends heads to Las Vegas for a bachelor stag party. They wake up with the hangover from hell next morning and can’t remember the night before. They find a dead hooker in the bathroom, try to piece together what happened, and get the hell out of Vegas – and then Very Bad Things happen. Soon, bodies are piling up and the friends are turning  on each other as the coverup builds and the wedding approaches.

Berg’s mix of nasty-toned thriller and bad-taste black comedy perhaps won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s clever and funny in places – and very unpleasant and appallingly bad in others. The first half-hour’s really excellent; the last half-hour’s really appalling.

Everyone performs it to the hilt as though they believe in it. There’s A Very Good Cast to try to make it work: Christian Slater, Jon Favreau, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Stern, Jeremy Piven, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Leland Orser, giving their all.

Like it or loathe it, it’s worth a look. It’s an influence on The Hangover.

Cameron Diaz previously made a similar kind of black comedy thriller movie in 1996, Head Above Water.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 979

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