Kopflos - 8 Köpfe im Koffer

The rest of the IMDb reviewers have got it about right. This is a good film. Nothing special or brilliant, but it does what it sets out to do which is to make you laugh - and it does so much better than most films of its kind.

I started watching this expecting to change channels quite quickly. I only gave it a chance at all because Joe Pesci was in it - which is never a bad asset for a film. What happened was I found myself smiling quite a lot, and then laughing quite a lot. Not uproariously or uncontrollably. But out loud, and more than once.

Pesci is good - but so is just about everyone else. And the script is wickedly funny too. It's much less predictable than most of its kind, There are twists which are genuinely surprising and interesting, and the film stays pretty fresh (even though in truth it's probably 20 minutes too long).

I'm quite a harsh marker, so a 6 from me is quite a compliment for a film like this. Well-written, nicely-paced, silly without being annoying, and containing some funny performances and a lot of good moments, you will like this one if you give it a chance.

Eventually, one of the bigger flaws of "8 Heads In A Duffel Bag" will strike viewers. They will ask themselves, "Why does the tone of the movie keep changing?" Sometimes the movie is a goofy comedy. Sometimes it's high-energy farce. Sometimes (actually, most of the time), the movie's tone is kind of flat. I'm not sure why the tone kept changing. Maybe it was a consequence of the lower budget - although the movie never looks seriously cheap, it has the appearance of being hastily shot with not much thought put through it. (And while most of the movie is set in Mexico, it's pretty obvious that it was not shot there.) However, even if a more consistent tone had been generated, the movie would still suffer from a screenplay with a number of flaws. Although Pesci's character has a deadline, he obviously goes past this deadline with no consequences. The movie keeps dropping plot elements and bringing them back after a long time has passed. There are plot holes, and the last third of the movie, when all the characters are together, becomes somewhat confusing.

I will admit that I did laugh a few times, mostly at Pesci's behavior and one-liners. And it's nice to see George Hamilton in a major studio movie again, though he is mostly wasted. But while the movie's flaws didn't aggravate me greatly, at the end I muttered "ehhhh" to the 95 minutes I had just watched.

Tommy Spinelli (Joe Pesci) is a mob guy transporting 8 heads across the country as proof of deaths. Charlie mistakenly picks up his bag. He's on vacation with his girlfriend Laurie Bennett (Kristy Swanson) and her parents (George Hamilton, Dyan Cannon). Laurie wants to break up. The mother is a recovering alcoholic. When she finds the heads, everybody thinks she's drunk.

Joe Pesci is aggressively hateful and not in a funny way. Charlie is pathetic and the actor lacks charisma. Laurie is unlikeable. Nobody is likable. Also they are boring. The family slapstick is bland and weak. At least Pesci isn't boring. However the whole movie is unfunny.

Alot of my friends recommended this movie to me saying it was good and down right hilarious. Well, I decided to rent it, but I was out of luck and couldn't find it in the video store. Anyways, 2 years later I'm in a video store outlet and I find it. Since it was cheap, I bought the video. I must say, that after watching this movie I was pretty surprised!! I didn't find it funny or amuzing. I did like the scene where Pesci breaks the pay phones and the "Mr. Simon" song scene with the heads though!! Those were the only hilarious parts through the whole movie. The movie lacked seriousness and although the plot was good, the acting was alittle too sloppy and silly and that's what made the movie pretty lame. And not to mention non-stop profanity. However, Pesci and David Spade were really funny together. 2 and a half out of five stars!!

A mob bagman (Joe Pesci) finds that his luggage, containing the proof of his latest hit, has been switched.

This was a nice departure for David Spade, stepping away from "Saturday Night Live", though still staying within comedy. Not his best work, but also probably not his fault. As a whole, the movie never really takes off the way it should.

The exception is an awesome dream sequence, perhaps one of the better dream sequences ever filmed. Sadly, this one minute is the very best -- the rest of the film does not live up to the great title. Overall, it is quite tame on the violence and gore for the subject matter. If the same story was done without it being comedy, who knows how great this might have been?