Very Bad Things

Peter Berg's scandalous sick-joke thriller is packed with rude and clever twists, and it delves, with surprising force, into the hypocritical postures of corporate-era male bonding. The cast is terrific, especially Christian Slater.

In a world filled with crude movie sitcoms, Berg's bitter, worst-possible-case scenario really does stand alone.

When it is good, the film by "Chicago Hope" actor Peter Berg is very, very good, but when it is bad it is horrid.

It never makes you laugh that hard. Not even close. And so the thing becomes a bloody assault on the senses that commingles atrocity with tedium.

This is Berg's debut outing as a director, but other first-timers, namely Joel Coen (Blood Simple) and Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave), had it all over him for blending horror and hilarity.

Hollow, simple-minded and about as profound an experience as stepping in a pile of road kill.

Pitched as a black comedy, the film thus far seems to have divided audiences between those who think it unaccountably hilarious and those who see it as the latest manifestation of what might be called the new nihilism.

Man has stag do in Las Vegas, Bride not happy about his friends, sex & drugs & rock n roll, mishap in the bathroom, panic & mayhem. Very dark comedy that has some genuine funny moments & a very good cast to back it up. It's loud, brash & doesn't take itself too seriously & that works in & out of it's favour.

I remember enjoying this movie when it came out back in the late 90's, when it felt like the pitch black humour and disgustingly morally bankrupt antics by the protagonists were exciting and transgressive. Re-watching now removes a lot of the shine. A lot of the plot depends on contrivances and the characters are either idiots or shift into outright sociopathy at jarring speed. This is neither an even faintly realistic depiction of how these characters would handle their situation, nor a madcap adventure with a grisly premise, and I think it would have worked better going in one of those two directions. I remembered this as "The Hangover but with a dead hooker" and what I got was much sadder and more grim but somehow still played for laughs. There is still some amusement to be had if your sense of humour runs very dark, but the second half of the movie will still put you off at least somewhat. The acting isn't great either especially considering the many surprisingly big names involved.

An utterly horrible film. The plot is all over the place, the violence is too over the top and none of the characters are even remotely likeable that you just don't care whether they die or not. Grim viewing. Not The Mist or Requiem for a Dream grim, because those two had a good film to support the grimness. Avoid!

Disgraceful. Still to date, the only movie I have walked out on. Anyone who finds violence like this funny is really deeply disturbed. I'm now an anti-Cameron Diaz fan.