At The Movies
Actor Peter Berg turns filmmaker
with "Very Bad Things."
A
SERENEA DONADONI
Special to The Jewish News
ctor turned writer/director
Peter Berg calls his debut
film Very Bad Things.
Believe him. This black
comedy follows a group of white col-
lar, suburban thirtysomething guys
(Christian Slater, Daniel Stern, Jeremy
Piven, Leland Orser) who take their
friend Kyle (Jon Favreau) to Las Vegas
for a bachelor parry a few days before
his wedding to Laura (Cameron Diaz).
Once in Vegas, they frantically
indulge in booze, drugs and frat boy
testosterone games. But when a prosti-
tute is accidentally killed, these old
friends collectively decide not to call
the police, and they head down a slip-
pery slope that's steeper than they
could have ever imagined.
You make these little mistakes in
your life," explained Berg at the 1998
Toronto International Film Festival.
"They can add up,
and before you
know it, you're in
a world of hell.
That was a broad
theme I wanted to
explore. That
being said, my
personality's pretty
extreme. I wanted
ro entertain, I
wanted to spin a yarn, and I wanted
to whack people a little bit."
As an actor, the 34-year-old Berg is
best known for his role as the rough-
around-the-edges working-class Dr.
Billy Kronk on CBS's "Chicago Hope"
and Linda Fiorentino's dim-witted
patsy in The Last Seduction. His resume
also includes starring roles in less than
stellar Hollywood fare like Aspen
Extreme and The Great White Hype.
But Berg describes his own "com-
fortable" background as being closer
to the characters in Very Bad Things,
and he initially planned on playing
the role of Kyle himself. His producers
discouraged Berg, advising him to
concentrate on directing.
"A young Dustin Hoffman would
have been great," Berg said. "That's
what I wanted: someone that was kind
of neurotic but kind of cool, kind of
malleable but kind of strong. But
there's just not a lot of actors like that
in Hollywood today."
He subsequently re-
watched Swingers,
and when he saw the
phone call scene,
when Jon Favreau
leaves a series of
increasingly hysteri-
cal messages on the
answering machine
of a girl he just
met," Berg "knew he
was the guy."
While Christ-
ian Slater and
Cameron Diaz
are bigger box
office names, the
part Favreau plays
in Very Bad
Things is the
film's
, m oral cen-
ter, if it can be
said to have one.
(Jeremy Piven
and Daniel Stern
play brothers,
ostensibly Jewish,
who like the
other characters
are "disconnected
Clockwise from top: Adam (Daniel Stern), Laura
from anything
(Cameron Diaz), Kyle (Jon Favreau), Charles (Leland
spiritual," says
Orser), Michael (Jeremy Piven) and Robert (Christian
Berg.)
Slater) in "Very Bad Things," a savage comedy about five
"The big chal-
friends who turn on each other after a bachelor party
lenge for me was to
be a character that
Favreau, who is equally at ease on
you could relate to throughout the
both sides of the camera, was
whole film," explained Favreau.
impressed with Berg's abilities as a
"Starting him off as very accessible
writer and director.
and then taking baby steps down that
"He gives an emotional state and
road, people can relate to where the
consistency to the characters," said
characters are. By the time [a fatally
Favreau. "A lot of independent film
injured hotel security guard is] bang-
makers who are just writers want to
ing on the door trying to get out of
show off how smart they are, and so as
the bathroom, and everybody's got a
a result, you have [characters] all say-
hand on the door, the audience feels
ing very clever things, probably more
they have a hand on the door, too."
clever than they should. Here, it's very
might work if Springer wasn't
exploiting these people for cheap
laughs and snickers.
Filmed on the production value
level of a wrestling match, Ringmaster
tells the story of those who call the
show's 1-800 line to appear on
national television and bare their
souls. In reality, their motivation
appears to be a free round-trip to Los
Angeles.
Granted, Ringmaster may appeal
to the millions of folks who put out
good money for the videos of X-
rated outtakes from the "Jerry
Springer Show."
0 from Detroit and the muscu-
This is just more
of the same, although
lar stud Nvtlo has been having
with paid actors.
sex with all of them.
Take the oversexed
When both groups arrive
0
Trailer Park Babes.
0 together at the same LA
C-
The daughter is
hotel, you can guess what
sleeping with her
happens. Then everyone goes
on Jerry's show and starts
stepfather, who has
impregnated her.
slugging away.
J erry Springer as talk-
When mom catches
Although Ringmaster at
show ost ferry Farrelly.
times laughingly tries for a
them in the act, she
cinema verite documentary
seduces her daugh-
style, it is nothing more than a real
ter's dim-witted fiance. Eventually,
Thanks giving turkey.
all four depart for L.A. to tell their
story on "The Jerry Show."
— Reviewed by Alan Abrams
Also en route are three women
"
Director Peter Berg
I
Ring master
"
"
s Jerry Springer trying to justi-
fy his television success by star-
ring in this movie bomb?
Ringmaster tries to rake the
high road by letting Springer, as talk-
show host Jerry Farrelly, "talmudical-
V explain why we shouldn't sit in
judgment upon lowlifes. Given our
insatiable fascination for details about
the sex lives of the rich and famous,
his take is that we don't like these
people because they're not wealthy
and powerful. That pop psychology
ir •
0
0
❑
• ". .
11/27
1998
Detroit Jewish News
106