8 Heads in a Duffel Bag
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag ★★ 1996 (R)
Mob bag man Tommy (Pesci, in a real stretch) loses his heads, the evidence of a successful hit, to med student Charlie Pritchett (Comeau), who's headed for a Mexican vacation with his fiance's (Swanson) uptight family. Desperate, Tommy “persuades” Charlie's roommates (Spade and Louiso) to help him find some replacement noggins. Excellent premise is almost done in by a timid script that relies a little too much on slapstick. Schulman's uneven directorial debut does little to mask the problem. Newcomer Comeau tries for a “Bachelor Party” era Tom Hanks thing, but doesn't quite get there. Pesci and Spade save flick from disaster, and get most of the good lines, pitted in a generational “battle of the smart-asses,” but neither one strays from their previous screen personas. Louiso hilariously makes the most of his role as the naive roommate. 95m/C VHS, DVD . Joe Pesci, David Spade, Andy Comeau, Kristy Swanson, George Hamilton, Dyan Cannon, Todd Louiso, Frank Roman, Anthony Mangano, Joe Basile, Ernestine Mercer, Howard George; D: Tom Schulman; W: Tom Schulman; C: Adam Holender; M: Andrew Gross.