Idle Hands (1999) Review

 "I'm gonna go call 911.  What's the number?"

-Mick

Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa) is such a lazy stoner that he doesn't even notices his parents have been murdered.  When he does finally figure out, he realizes his hand was the culprit.  With his hand possessed and going rogue, Anton is faced with cutting off his own hand, but even if he does, can he stop it from killing even more people?

What Works:

This a very weird movie.  It's a stoner comedy, but also a horror movie.  The end result is a stoner/horror/black comedy and I'm here for it.  I love horror movies and I love black comedies.  Plus stoner comedies are a guilty pleasure of mine.  Somehow this movie functions on all three levels and makes for a unique and fun experience.

Devon Sawa absolutely kills his performance on a physical level.  He plays himself and his possessed hand.  It's an extremely impressive performance and I have no idea how someone can be coordinated enough to pull off what he is able to do.  He really makes it seem like he has no control over his hand and makes it seem easy.

Seth Green and Elden Hanson play Anton's friend's who act as the comic relief amongst a cast of comic relief characters.  These two are hilarious and play off each other really well.  They spend the majority of the movie as zombies which gives us more excellent physical comedy, but their performances are very funny as well.

This is a Halloween movie, which is another way to score points with me.  Halloween is my favorite day of the year, so when a movie manages to capture the atmosphere of Halloween, I love it.  We get Halloween decorations, costumes, and a big Halloween dance at the end of the film.

What Sucks:

I do have to admit, this movie doesn't make a ton of sense.  They give us a sort of half-baked explantation through Vivica A. Fox's character, who is hunting the evil, but they don't do a very good job.  Either give us a full explanation of what is happening and why or don't bother.  This movie would have worked fine if there was zero explanation.  We have an evil possessed hand and we have to stop it.  We don't need anything else.  

Also I really don't buy that Jessica Alba's character has a crush on Anton.

Finally, Anton gets over the deaths of his parents and best friends extremely quickly.  I know this is a comedy, but come on.  There should have been at least one scene where we get a little dramatic.  These deaths are a big deal for the character and they shouldn't be brushed aside so easily.

Verdict:

Idle Hands is a weird movie that hits a lot of the right buttons with me.  It's a stoner comedy and a horror movie, plus it's a Halloween movie.  And Devon Sawa, Seth Green, and Elden Hanson all do a great job.  The movie doesn't make a ton of sense and some of the deaths are brushed over too easily, but this movie has still got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good