Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- pitch black
- cynical
- paranoid
- late night viewing
- dark comedy night
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film technically competent but undermined by mean-spirited cynicism, excessive violence, and an uncontrolled collision of comedy with cruelty.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The bachelor party coverup repeatedly turns murder, gore, and interpersonal cruelty into the film's principal comic material.
After a woman is killed in Las Vegas, the friends accumulate bodies and increasingly desperate concealment efforts.
The friends turn against one another as the murder coverup threatens their weddings, reputations, and freedom.
Its black humor is built around blood-spattered violence and degradation rather than softened offscreen consequences.
Films like Very Bad Things, and why
Man Bites Dog
shares pitch-black comedy, escalating criminal coverup, and cynical group betrayal
Fargo
shares morally corrosive black humor, graphic violence, and criminal incompetence
The Hangover
shares a bachelor-party premise that spirals into violent consequences and male friendship breakdown
Cheap Thrills
shares transgressive comedy, criminal panic, and escalating brutality among dysfunctional friends
Movie Details
- Director
- Peter Berg
- Release Date
- 1998-09-11
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Rating
- 6.3 / 10 (717)
Cast
- Christian Slater
- Cameron Diaz
- Jon Favreau
- Leland Orser
- Jeremy Piven
- Daniel Stern
- Jeanne Tripplehorn
- Rob Brownstein
- Blake Gibbons
- Tyler Cole Malinger
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Very Bad Things about?
- A celebratory Las Vegas bachelor party mutates into a vicious chain reaction of murder, panic, and betrayal among longtime friends.
- What is Very Bad Things like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Very Bad Things as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Very Bad Things violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Very Bad Things as graphic.
- What did critics think of Very Bad Things?
- Critics broadly found the film technically competent but undermined by mean-spirited cynicism, excessive violence, and an uncontrolled collision of comedy with cruelty.
- Which films are like Very Bad Things?
- Films with a similar feel include Man Bites Dog, Fargo, The Hangover, and Cheap Thrills.
- How long is Very Bad Things?
- Very Bad Things runs 100 minutes.
- Where can I watch Very Bad Things?
- In United States, Very Bad Things is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
