Wonderful Movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

Absolutely the worst movie.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The film begins auspiciously enough; Tommy (Joe Pesci) a middleman for two assassins is hired to transport eight severed heads to their mob boss to prove their owners are dead. This would be his last job before his retirement so to play it safe, he packs them in a duffel bag and takes a plane instead of driving because, you know, airport security was less stringent in 1997. While on board the plane, Tommy meets Charlie (Andy Comeau) a college student set to meet his girlfriend (Kristy Swanson) and her parents (George Hamilton & Dyan Cannon) in Mexico. Naturally Charlie's duffel bag get switched and madness ensues.If you're interest was peaked by that small synopsis you're in for a mixed bag. The story unfolds somewhat predictably though definitely not without energy. Joe Pesci who has been able to hone-in on his inner Guido since Goodfellas, barks, snaps and growls to the point where every scene he's in is utter magic. Even with a situation as cliché as being on the phone while an impatient extra circles behind you is done with panache. His costars however play their parts with less success. Andy Comeau has the appearance of your typical rube but he doesn't have the attention to detail more experienced actors have. Playing it safe he seems frazzled when he should be panicked. David Spade and Todd Louiso who play Charlie's college friends and are shoehorned into the series of unfortunate events fare better but get a little annoying towards the end. Aside from Pesci, the only person who really hits a home run is Ernestine Mercer who plays Swanson's no-nonsense grandmother."8 Heads" however, is a fun time waster and manages to keep things light despite its dark subject matter. Writer/Director Tom Schulman who also wrote "What About Bob?" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" manages to keep the pace of your average farce without reinventing the wheel. And yes, there are head puns in this film but the groaner aren't the only thing this film has going for it.http://theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com/

You won't laugh your head off at "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag" because this decapitated comedy of errors is about as funny as a frontal lobotomy. Pint-sized Joe Pesci of "Goodfellas" plays Tommy, a combustible, crew-cut, wise-guy who must deliver a duffel bag of eight heads to a vengeful crime boss. Basically, the mob chieftain insists on verifying the contents for himself. Andy Comeau co-stars as a clean-cut college kid named Charlie, with a duffel bag of duds, bound for a weekend in Mexico with his cute girlfriend Laurie Bennett (Kristy Swanson of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and her stuffy parents. Dyan Cannon and George Hamilton play Laurie's mother and father Annette and Dick Bennett. Tommy and Charlie take the same flight out, sit next to each other, but don't hit it off. Guess whose bags do the duffel shuffle in all the airport chaos. When Tommy learns he has snagged the wrong bag, he heads off for Charlie's college fraternity house. He tortures Charlie's two pin-headed med school pals Ernie (David Spade) and Steve (Todd Louiso) who cannot tell Tommy a thing because they know nothing about Charlie's plans. How much laughter can you generate from of a scene where a thug snaps a wet towel at two naked frat boys? Meanwhile, in Mexico, David's future mother-in-law, Annette Bennett (Dyan Cannon of "Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice") discovers the grisly contents of the bag and turn into a basket case. Charlie and his girlfriend try to lose the heads, but nothing they do works. Thieves steal Dick Bennett's truck fro them, and a coyote snatches one of the noggins. Dick winds up in a Mexican hoosegow after two heads show up in his baggage at the airport. Eventually, just as Tommy is about to snuff the frats, Charlie calls. Charlie and Tommy agree to get their heads together. By this time, writer & director Tom Schulman has devoted half of the movie to time spent in Mexico on the labored comedy of characters up to their ears in head games. The lowbrow plot gets even more complicated and less humorous. Tommy finds out that Charlie might have let a couple of heads roll, so he forces Ernie and Steve to help him come up with two replacement craniums.While all of this is happening, two more mob guys trail Tommy across the border. It seems that the headstrong crime boss is pretty head up waiting for his heads. Bennett's mother, a chain-smoking battle ax, shows up, too. The trouble with "8 Heads" is that Schulman spends too much time bringing Tommy and Charlie together. A good comedy of errors depends on nimble timing, witty humor, and a snappy story. "8 Heads" squanders too much time on plot filler and gets a little too mean-spirited, particularly when Tommy spews profanities galore. The confusion that guillotines the best laid plans of the heroes rarely elicits a laugh. Tommy looks like a headbanger who wandered in from a Martin Scorsese bloodbath.You know you're in trouble at a comedy when the movie allots more time to the exposition than the gags. You know you're watching an empty-heded comedy when the movie characters resort to jokes about the film. You know the movie-makers are desperate when the resort to a dream sequence. They have the heads warble a tune in Tommy's dreams, while their headless bodies attack him. Pretty soon you notice, too, that the laughs get to be fewer and far between. When one of the characters suggests a better plan than what the writer gave to the star, you know you're in a bad movie. Charlie criticizes Tommy for not flying the heads out on a privately chartered jet. Sure, the heads would arrive intact, but there would be no comedy. Anyway, it shows what a numbskull Tommy is. You'd at least mark your bag if you were toting around severed body parts, right?Compared with the wise guys that he impersonated in "Goodfellas" and "Casino," Pesci's errand boy Tommy is just plain cranky. He loves to smash phones and brandish his giant automatic pistol. Tommy makes a terrible hero because he's never sympathetic and he is much too stupid. Indeed, it is fun to see a couple of 1960s era stars like Cannon and Hamilton co-star in a 1990s film, but they're wasted in stereotypical supporting roles. Hamilton phones in most of his lines to his mother, trying to persuade her not to visit their motel. Spade sleepwalks through a role that demands very little of his enormously dry talent."8 Heads in a Duffel Bag" belongs to the corpse comedy genre. Even "Weekend at Bernie's 2" was one head and one body about this multi-cranical farce. Pesci fans will wonder why he gave his nod to this skullduggery.

Perhaps inspired by the Warren Oates classic "Bring Me the Head of Alffredo Garcia", this heads in a bag comedy has a strong opening, and a somewhat ridiculous finish. The actor's do quite well with what is essentially a one joke movie. "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag" starts as black comedy, but eventually morphs into nothing more than slapstick. The ending at the airport is especially weak, as any idea of how to conclude the film seems to have been lost. Nevertheless, the strong, "dark" first half, along with above average comedy material saves the movie, and compared to some of today's lame comedies, I can recommend seeing "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag." - MERK

Maybe "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag" isn't so bad if we just accept it as totally ridiculous. I can't say the same if we try to take it seriously. Joe Pesci plays a hit-man who has to deliver several heads, but lo and behold, he gets the wrong bag, leading to some rather predictable situations.As for the rest of the cast, David Spade provides some laughs during the scenes that he shares with Joe Pesci; other than that, not even George Hamilton or Dyan Cannon seem able to do anything (Kristy Swanson, I believe, is best known for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"). To make matters worse, the movie makes Mexico look like a place where you can only expect to get drug into unpleasant situations, whether on the street, in a hotel, or in the airport.Oh well. It's still better than "Demolition Man".