Idle Hands (1999)

I can't figure out who this movie is for. The humor was too juvenile and disgusting, so you'd think maybe it would appeal to 13 or 14 year olds, but it was very R rated with a lot of drug use, innuendo, and a fair bit of nudity. But viewers over the age of 18 or 21 would most likely find the humor too immature to really find it funny. I chuckled a couple times just because I was supposed to, but the characters were so unlikeable and the scenes so disturbing and ridiculous, it just wasn't that funny. I think I lost a few brain cells just from watching it.Jessica Alba looked great in this but her character was completely implausible... how could she possibly have been attracted to Anton? Every encounter with him he was acting like a complete nutjob. To me, humor works best if it's believable. The closer to real life, the funnier it is. This movie was so absurd I just couldn't find it funny, and it was gory to the extreme, with blood and gibs splattering everywhere, things getting impaled or sliced up. Monty Python can pull that sort of thing off and make it funny, but here it was just sick.I wanted to like this movie. I like the era it's from, late 90's, I like the actors, it had great music, and the idea of it was funny on the surface. The trailer made it look good, and I found a few writeups on the internet listing this as a must-see for Halloween. But for me, it goes into the junk pile along with movies like Joe Dirt or The Core.

Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa) is pot smoking teen slacker. He's so oblivious that he doesn't notice his parents had been killed on Halloween. His slacker friends Mick (Seth Green) and Pnub (Elden Henson) tell him about the serial killer on the loose. He's in love with Molly (Jessica Alba) next door but he's too shy to talk to her. Debi LeCure (Vivica A. Fox) is on the hunt for the killer, a demonic killer. Anton discovers the bodies. His right hand seems to have a mind of its own.Devon Sawa is not the most compelling lead. He does this pathetic slacker character well. The comedy duo of Seth Green and Henson is terrific. There's a young hot Jessica Alba. It has some funny moments. It just needs more of them. It's a junior take on the Evil Dead hand and there's nothing wrong with that.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit im a big fan of horror and comedy and when they do it together just right it turns out pretty well. This is a bloody well written horror but I just don't see how they spent 20 million dollars on this. Its strange when you see some horror movies with about 5 million dollar budget and they look the same as this one a shame to see this be such a box office fail This movie is about a very lazy guy named Anton who pretty much just sits home all day watches TV sleeps and smokes weed. Then all of the sudden his hand becomes possessed by the devil as it kills people he tries to control it.This movie is nothing too special but it is definitely worth a watch for most people considered

Every year around Halloween I put on a long horror movie marathon for me and my friends. We play many of the classics but I like to throw in some modern or more obscure titles that we haven't seen to keep it interesting and prevent us from spending yet another two hours quoting every line of dialogue in Carpenter's Halloween. I use Idle Hands to break up the marathon with a bit of humor and levity when the serious and somber horror films start to take their psychological toll and depress everyone. It brings everyone back into the mood of the marathon and refreshes us with some laughter. It is to my marathon what the porter is to Macbeth you might say.In this context, the film is great. I don't know if I would rate it very highly on its own however. It is worth watching and if you like campy gore mixed some black humor you will have a good time watching it. Try pairing it with a viewing of The Evil Dead 2 or something similar.