Cameron Diaz, Christian Slater, Daniel Stern

Peter Berg's dark comedy about a bachelor party gone horribly awry is highly ambitious in its attempts to satirize suburbia, male bonding, and self-help philosophy, and for the most part it does succe...( read more  read more... )ed in hitting its targets with a malicious, misanthropic glee. When five buddies arrive in Las Vegas for some pre-wedding shenanigans, things quickly spiral out of control when the requisite prostitute falls victim to a grisly accident, igniting a spark in an already unstable powder keg of personalities. Following the lead of real estate agent and self-help guy Robert (Christian Slater), the men warily agree on a cover-up and covert desert burial. A couple hours and another corpse later, however, they're already at each other's throats, and their escalating breakdowns threaten to disrupt the highly prized wedding of hard-as-nails bride Laura (a stunning Cameron Diaz). Berg, like most actor-turned-directors (this is The Last Seduction star's filmmaking debut) helms the film with a wildly sliding tone and tends to weigh its strengths heavily on its performers. Slater's psycho turn is by far his most inventive yet (he's more in control than ever before), Diaz effectively mixes sunshine with poison, and Jon Favreau is effective and understated as the hapless bridegroom; the rest of the cast, however, tends to play up the histrionics. Be warned, though: Those expecting a sunny-style There's Something About Mary gross-out comedy will probably be shocked by Berg's take-no-prisoners agenda; this is comedy at its absolute blackest, and no one is spared. --Mark Englehart

Flixster Users

60% liked it

30,164 ratings

Critics

43% liked it

49 critics

R, 100 min.

Directed by: Peter Berg

Release Date: November 25, 1998

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: January 11, 2000

Stats: 1,364 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (1,364)


  • September 24, 2009
    A black comedy that?s quite nasty in places but has a brilliant, very un-Hollywood ending.
  • April 3, 2008
    Dark comedy about a stag night in Las Vegas that goes wrong.
  • March 28, 2008
    Cameron Diaz plays Laura Garrety, a selfish, whiny bride-to-be. She's getting married in three days to a handsome fellow named Kyle Fisher (Jon Faveau). She isn't happy with his decision to travel to Vegas with his friends for a bachelor party. They include two bickering brothers...( read more), Adam (Daniel Stern), and Michael (Jeremy Piven) as well as an organized but cruel real estate agent named Robert Boyd (Christian Slater), and a quiet mechanic named Charles Moore (Leland Orser). Once they arrive in Vegas, a stylistic montage sequence shows the five friends gambling, snorting cocaine, and drinking lots of alcohol. They settle in for the night at a fancy hotel, where a stripper (Carla Scott) arrives and lap dances the guys into a frenzy. Michael takes her into the bathroom for sex, but accidentally drives the stripper's head into a towel hook, instantly killing her. The rest of the men panic and want to call for help, but Boyd has a better idea. He wants to bury the body in the nearby desert. The intrusion of a hotel security guard complicates the issue. Boyd kills him with a corkscrew during a particularly unpleasant scene. The rest decide to use a chain saw to cut up the bodies and carry them to the desert in suitcases, where they do indeed put the unfortunate souls underground. "Very Bad Things" takes us on a roller coaster ride through immorality and its consequences. It's fun watching the sequences of events, the bodies piling up, and the exaggeration of our most improper impulses. A great cast demonstrates their fine acting abilities. The script, also by Peter Berg, features very smart, witty dialogue. Berg directs the chaos with an engaging style-especially during the scenes in Vegas, and keeps the momentum throughout the movie.
  • January 31, 2008
    Christian Slater returns as a kind of yuppie big brother to his sociopathic character in Heathers in a film that tries terribly hard to be a "cult" black comedy. It shares some similarities with Shallow Grave, but where that film concerned a group of friends who find a dead body ...( read more)and dispose of it for money, leading to their psychological breakdown out of guilt for what they did, this film seems to think that brutal murder for self serving convenience is all a bit of a laugh. Every one of the characters are thoroughly dislikeable, from Cmaeron Diaz's clingy and manipulative shrew to the bachelor party's collection of whining, hysterical misogynists. I can't say that the film is badly made as it's decently directed and the cast do their best with the material they're lumbered with, but it is tasteless, morally dubious and misjudged on every level. And anyone who could possibly find it funny are as sociopathic as the collection of hateful w**kers it contains.
  • August 13, 2007
    I liked the calamity and chaos in this movie. It's a fun mess, and I'm glad I'm not actually there.
  • November 22, 2009
    Finally saw this on Netflix - it was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, particularly the ending. Now THIS is what a dark comedy is supposed to be!
  • November 17, 2009
    Of course the film is awful, but few dark comedies are made with such straightforward effectiveness. Very Bad Things is what it was supposed to be since the very beginning: a ridiculous, unrealistic and nonsense black comedy with the typical plot concerning a bunch of stupid frie...( read more)nds that do something they later regret under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. Extremely forced moments are so noticeable you may laugh, so this is one of those films that should be seen with pizza, bear and friends, but not alone or it will be spoiled... like if was any good, really...

    44/100
  • November 12, 2009
    Kyle Fisher has one last night to celebrate life as a single man before marrying Laura, so he sets out to Vegas with four of his best buddies. But a drug and alcohol filled night on the town with a stripper who goes all the way, turns into a cold night in the desert with shovels ...( read more)when the stripper goes all the way into a body bag after dying in their bathroom. And that's just the first of the bodies to pile up before Kyle can walk down the aisle. The four friends decide to bury the evidence, but fate has a way of not letting the truth stay buried for long.

    stars Cameron Diaz, Christian Slater, Daniel Stern, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Jeremy Piven, Joey Zimmerman, Jon Favreau, Kobe kai and Leland Orser.

    directed by Peter Berg.
  • November 3, 2009
    This is about as black as a black comedy can get. A little too black for my taste. It's too unpleasant and the situations are too uncomfortable, but Cameron Diaz scores as the bride. Too much nastiness to be entertaining. It is well acted, good cinematography.
  • October 27, 2009
    Every once in a while, a movie puts together a string of extreme situations and pulls them off with believability. this is one of them.

Critic Reviews


May 11, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Berg is so in love with his escalating shock tactics that they quickly cease to shock. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Peter Berg's Very Bad Things isn't a bad movie, just a reprehensible one. full review

January 1, 2000
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Berg ... brings wit, energy and a twisted kind of joy to a story that's little more than a tasteless anecdote. full review

View more Very Bad Things reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Melty4
    July 10, 2007
    i haven't seen a dark comedy this brutal and funny ever. gotta love jeremy piven in this one.
  • sillygirll
    June 13, 2006
    this film is fantastically messed up, funny and horrible in the right mix. great acting and story line. highly entertaining!

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Bachelor Party Vegas (Vegas Baby)
    Bachelor Party Vegas (Vegas Baby) (50%)
  • American Psycho
    American Psycho (33%)
  • The Hangover
    The Hangover (100%)
  • Festival
    Festival (100%)

Facts


No facts approved yet. Be the first

Very Bad Things : Watch Free on TV


Very Bad Things Trivia


  • Which actor starred in Very Bad Things, 3000 Miles to Graceland, and Mindhunters?  Answer »
  • Who starred in City Slickers, Very Bad Things, and Little Monsters?  Answer »
  • Which event starts off the run of mishaps in the movie Very Bad Things?  Answer »
  • On Very Bad Things, what candy did the kids want at the store?  Answer »

Movie Quizzes


No quizzes for Very Bad Things. Want to create one?

Video Clips


No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?