Try to imagine what kind of strange, twisted movie would call itself “8 Heads in a Duffel Bag.” No matter how weird your vision, you probably wouldn’t prepared for the laughs in this film.
Completely different from the irredeemable “Grosse Pointe Blank,” the gags in “8 Heads” are slapstick, blatant, and truly funny. There is little more than a small element of realism in the story, but the wacko humor makes up for it.
I’m sure that, by this point, the reader is extremely curious what on earth a movie called “8 Heads in a Duffel Bag” is about. So, here goes.
Joe Pesci plays a career criminal (maybe mafioso, but probably not good enough) who is delivering eight human heads (proof of the corresponding hits) to the person who paid for the jobs. But then, in the style of Hollywood comedies, everything goes wrong.
When he gets on the plane, Pesci has a hard time storing his head-filled bag in the overhead compartments when a medical messenger gets on the flight with human organs. For some reason, the stewardesses have more compassion for the medical man than for Pesci.
When he goes to baggage claim to collect his cargo, he finds that he grabbed an identical bag - only holding clothes and personal items. So, he desperately goes searching for his bag. All the while, the unknowing head-holder travels to Mexico with his girlfriend and her parents.
The trail to the missing heads leads Pesci to a college dorm room with David Spade. Spade and a friend are tortured until they divulge everything they know about their roommate. Then, being a medical student, Spade leads the criminal to the university’s kryonics lab, housing dozens of cadavers, some of which “match” the original killings.
All of the bizarre and insane plot twists are milked to the limit, and perhaps go too far. But, it is perhaps in the excess where the best comedy in the film is hiding.
Pesci is in top form, playing a character strangely similar to his in “Goodfellas” - a criminal who isn’t the slightest bit afraid to use his gun. He brings out the nutcase in his character, a skill that help make the movie funny.
However, David Spade stole the show. Playing a role not that different than anything he ever did on “Saturday Night Live,” his brand of humor fits the film like a glove, or, should I say, a face mask.
“8 Heads” is not a movie for the light-hearted. Some of the gags involve various parts of dead bodies, as well as other just as objectionable topics. But, for fans of the Chevy Chase/Chris Farley style of comedy (in other words, comedy without style) only a good episode of “Saturday Night Live” gets any better than this.
Grade: B