Very Bad Things had a great cast, great comedy, and a great message for all of us living in the grind. After a bachelor party gone bad in Las Vegas, '"things" keep getting worse for this circle of friends and relatives as one crisis leads to another, unraveling their cookie-cutter suburban lives. It relates to our multi-phobic, intensifying times.
Peter Burg's directorial debut added his first facets to his future action movie gem collection. Many critics disagreed, but this film satirically caters to a well of urban anxiety brimming in all of us. From the start, it hooked me. I was caught by all these actors arguing with each other. Something in Adam Berkow's (the prolifically funny Daniel Stern) panic attacks caught my attention. One of the band of guys just killed a prostitute in Vegas, Michael Berkow (Jeremy Piven), and it's tearing Adam up, his brother. Adam's nervous breakdown causes a chain reaction during an already tense build up to Kyle's wedding. Through it all, trophy wife-to-be Laura (Cameron Diaz) is trying to marry Kyle (Jon Favreau), amping up the frustration. For the first time, I could see Cameron Diaz as a total actor.
Yes, it's hyperbolic. Yet, the movie resonates by leading us to think of how we might be dealing with our "things," and which actor you identify with the most. Some respond from the passive spectrum like Charles Moore (Leland Orser) to the alphas who have to take over control at all costs like Michael, Laura, and Robert Boyd (Christian Slater). This black comedy works with such an excellent chemistry of actors. OK, so siblings don't usually kill each other. Again, it makes you wonder what people are really capable of.
The ending is predictable, as it keeps boiling over. Berg showcases the driving self destructive nature of unchecked stress while reaching for the American Dream--essentially this was about a couple just trying to have the perfect wedding. In its fatalism, it's comedic when it connects with us at some crisis or another, demonstrating that life can always be worse. Don't be scared; just laugh at it and don't take life so seriously. Berg, for daring to diversify your skillset early on, I lay this on the Winning 35 yd. Line.
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