What would happen if Meet the Parents was released 3 years earlier, and instead of a guy having bad things happen to him because of his bad luck, it’s because his bag on the plane was swapped with that of a hitman? Ok, that’s still bad luck, but you would get 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, one of the reasons that Orion Pictures is no longer in business.
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag came out in 1997 and I do remember when it came to theaters it looked like something I’d like to see. It looked like a twisted dark comedy that I could enjoy, but it was in and out of theaters in no time. This didn’t seem like a good sign, but I figured I’d rent it when it came out to check it out. My favorite video store went out of business at the time and I could not rent it, and it was quickly forgotten. If only it stayed that way.
Joe Pesci plays a hitman that somehow manages to get 8 heads that are in one duffel bag onto an airplane through airport security no problem. I know this is pre-9/11, but still, already ridiculous. So he tries to keep it near him in the overhead compartment, but some human organs are being transported which takes priority and it gets moved to checked baggage. It just so happens that the person sitting next to him on the flight had the same duffel bag, and guess who gets their bags mixed up? Oh those wacky writers. The other passenger is on vacation with his girlfriend and is meeting the parents for the first time. In his duffel bag was a paper he was writing for med school so Joe Pesci now has a name and hunts him down in Mexico to get those heads back.
Long story short, anything that can go wrong goes wrong, all while the main character is trying to hide what is really going on to his girlfriend’s parents. The girlfriend is played by Kristy Swanson who always looks good (and picks bad movies) and she helps, while trying to help cover as well. In the end, it’s just not funny and tries too hard to be like "look, this is funny…. and it’s dark!" When I saw that the NetFlix average rating was 3 stars I figured it’d be a decent movie to watch on NetFlix Instant, but I did not enjoy this movie at all.
NetFlix Instant quality was full frame/pan and scan presentation and fuzzy quality, but I really didn’t care. Not sure if this is how the DVD is, but again, not important at all.
1/5 stars - Belongs in Forgotten Friday because NetFlix Instant no longer shows it anymore, even they want it forgotten. Stay far away.
