Very Bad Things

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Very Bad Things

R

1998

1h 40m

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

40%

Tomatometer

57 Reviews

58%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau) heads to Las Vegas for a bachelor party with four friends. When one of them accidentally kills a hired stripper and a security guard finds the body, unstable Boyd (Christian Slater) kills the guard to keep him from calling the cops, then organizes the group to dispose of the corpses. Back home, Kyle is troubled and has difficulty hiding his worries from his fiancée (Cameron Diaz). Meanwhile, to ensure his own safety, Boyd begins killing the others.

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Critics Consensus

Mean-spirited and empty.

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Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

Apr 1, 2019

Aiming for the giddy gruesomeness of Shallow Grave, [director Peter] Berg piles one sadistic thrill on top of another without noticing how flat and charmless the whole enterprise feels.

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Xan Brooks

Sight & Sound

Mar 3, 2002

2.5/5

The trouble is that Berg doesn't seem sure how to draw matters to a close.

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Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

May 11, 2001

2/5

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

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Alistair Lawrence

Common Sense Media

Jan 17, 2024

But when you've got Tarantino and the Coens doing wild, bloody violence with memorable dialogue in the same era, it's easy to see why Very Bad Things is regarded as a pretty poor movie in comparison.

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Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

May 8, 2020

It's a dry heave of pitch black comedy that's awful, nasty, unpleasant, rotten and downright unfunny.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Feb 5, 2020

1.5/4

A very bad movie.

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Antony B

@RT29664284 Aug 23, 2026

Very Bad Things is a gloriously nasty cocktail of bad decisions, worse judgment, and the kind of escalating disaster you can’t look away from. The dialogue crackles, the characters are spectacularly unhinged, and every attempt to fix the situation somehow makes everything ten times worse. Dark, outrageous, and brutally funny. I’s a wedding weekend from hell, and a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

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Dwayne W

@Dwayneee Jul 19, 2026

Very Bad Things is what happens when a group of people make one tiny mistake and then spend the rest of the movie building a skyscraper out of terrible decisions. It's wickedly funny, brutally uncomfortable, and hilariously committed to watching everything fall apart. The performances go all-in on the madness, creating a twisted little nightmare about friendship, greed, and the ridiculous things people do to protect their secrets. Horrible choices, brilliant comedy, and absolutely no shortage of chaos. It's a glorious disaster you can't look away from.

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Charlotte S

@RT33812180 Apr 17, 2026

If you don’t take this movie too seriously, you’ll love it. It’s camp horror at its best. Think Final Destination with a moral through-line. Add to that a stacked cast of your favourite actors from the nineties and you have a seemingly playful watch that may just terrorize your psyche for years to come.

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Aaron C

@a_carpy Jan 27, 2026

Tonal issues abound - this movie can't decide whether to lean into the dark comedy and it ends up as 90 minutes of nihilism. The fun and jaunty trailer did not capture the feel of this movie at all. I left feeling drained. Technically it's well-made and there are several good performances, namely Slater, Stern, and Diaz. But the overall direction, to me, feels like it missed the mark. Let the Coen Brothers remake it someday.

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Melissa L

@Agent99 Jan 16, 2026

This is a good movie about some really bad people not really getting what they deserved.

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K W

@KraigwithaK Feb 22, 2025

Underrated film with a stellar dark wit

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Peter Berg

Director

Christian Slater

Robert Boyd

Cameron Diaz

Laura Garrity

Daniel Stern

Adam Berkow

Jeanne Tripplehorn

Lois Berkow

Jon Favreau

Kyle Fisher

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60%

80%

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Synopsis

Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau) heads to Las Vegas for a bachelor party with four friends. When one of them accidentally kills a hired stripper and a security guard finds the body, unstable Boyd (Christian Slater) kills the guard to keep him from calling the cops, then organizes the group to dispose of the corpses. Back home, Kyle is troubled and has difficulty hiding his worries from his fiancée (Cameron Diaz). Meanwhile, to ensure his own safety, Boyd begins killing the others.

Director: Peter Berg
Producer: Cindy Cowan, Diane Nabatoff, Michael Schiffer
Screenwriter: Peter Berg
Distributor: Polygram
Production Co: Initial Entertainment Group
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 25, 1998, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $9.9M
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital

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