Line #36 Film/EightHeadsInADuffelBag


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0778.JPG]]
2
3	->''"Get ready for cut-throat comedy!"''
4	-->-- '''{{Tagline}}'''
5
6	A 1997 BlackComedy film directed by Tom Schuman and starring Creator/JoePesci.
7
8	Mob {{Courier}} Tommy Spinelli (Pesci) has been [[DemandingTheirHead ordered by his superior to bring back eight decapitated victims' heads]]. At the airport he crosses paths with a young med-school graduate who's about to join his girlfriend and her parents at a hotel in Mexico. When Spinelli reaches his destination, he finds that he and the med student have [[SatchelSwitcheroo inadvertently swapped luggage]]. HilarityEnsues.
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10	Also features Creator/KristySwanson, Creator/DavidSpade, Dyan Cannon, and Creator/GeorgeHamilton.
11	----
12	!!Contains examples of:
13	* ActorAllusion:
14	** The character of Tommy Spinelli is obviously indebted to Creator/JoePesci's many [[HairTriggerTemper short-tempered]] mobster characters. In fact, a gag credit at the end of the film lists "Tommy Devito" (Pesci's character in ''[=GoodFellas=]'') as a bodyguard for Spinelli.
15	** Also, this is hardly the first time that Creator/KristySwanson [[Film/TheChase1994 has had a rich idiot father and gone vacationing in Mexico]].
16	* BerserkButton: [[ItMakesSenseInContext "Would you like an enchilada?"]]
17	* BilingualBonus: Some of the dialogue spoken by the Mexican characters is untranslated from the original Spanish (which doesn't hurt the film too much, because their comments tend to be [[SmallReferencePools popular Spanish phrases that most English speakers know or at least have heard of]]).
18	* BlackComedy
19	* BodyInABreadbox: Right there in the title.
20	* BumblingDad: Dick Bennett (George Hamilton's character)
21	* ButtMonkey: Dick Bennett, again. All he wanted was to do some fishing in Mexico, and he ends up getting wrongfully arrested for murder, tortured during interrogation, and is implied to get [[PrisonRape raped]] while temporarily in jail.
22	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Spinelli is pretty good at this.
23	* DeadpanSnarker: Whenever David Spade shows up in a film, you can count on it.
24	* DecapitationPresentation: As you'd expect from the title.
25	* DeerInTheHeadlights: Laurie.
26	* DemandingTheirHead: Tommy Spinelli works for TheMafia and has been ordered by his superior to bring back the heads of eight decapitated victims as proof of their deaths.
27	* DescriptionCut: Charlie tells Laurie that Ernie and Steve have dull lives. Cut to them being tortured by Tommy.
28	* DismemberingTheBody: Eight bodies were decapitated so the heads (and only the heads) could be transported in a duffel bag.
29	* DisproportionateRetribution: Don't sass-talk Spinelli, or he just might throw you out of a speeding minivan.
30	* FauxActionGirl: Laurie is [[InformedAbility talked up by her fiancé as a race-car driver]], but this is never mentioned again. She also does only token badass things such as slapping people and clonking another woman over the head with a vase.
31	* HairTriggerTemper: Tommy. [[Creator/JoePesci Naturally]].
32	* HamToHamCombat: Any scene in which Joe Pesci confronts David Spade, or in which Joe Pesci confronts Ernestine Mercer (the actress playing the grandmother).
33	* HurricaneOfPuns: "''Heads'' up! Stop a''head''. Anybody need to use the ''head''?", etc.
34	* HypocriticalHumor: "Didn't I tell you to watch your fucking language?"
35	* ILied: When Laurie finds one of the heads, she screams loud enough for the entire hotel staff to hear. Charlie quickly grabs Laurie and muffles her mouth with his hand just as one of the employees opens the door. Charlie reassures him that everything is fine, prompting the employee to leave. Then Charlie tells Laurie that he will let her go if she promises not to scream again. Laurie [[SchmuckBait gives her word]] - and then, once she is free, immediately resumes screaming!
36	* INeedAFreakingDrink: Annette raids her mini bar after finding the heads.
37	* ItWasHereISwear: Annette takes Dick to Charlie's room to show him the heads, but the maids already removed them.
38	* {{Jerkass}}: Tommy Spinelli of course, but quite a few other characters as well.
39	-->'''Charlie:''' I don't think [Laurie's] father likes me.\
40	'''Tommy:''' I can understand that. I just met you, and I don't like you either.
41	* JustJokingJustification: Charlie tries this on Laurie after frightening her [[invoked]][[AccidentalInnuendo out of the closet]] (where she is hiding from one of the severed heads) by saying, "The bodies are in there!" [[DudeNotFunny Laurie isn't biting.]]
42	* LadyDrunk: Annette.
43	* MamaBear: When Annette finds the heads and assumes that Charlie is the killer, she instantly gets between Charlie and her daughter.
44	* MaximumFunChamber: Dick's treatment in the Mexican prison.
45	* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Quite a few characters, but most notably Pesci's and Spade's.
46	* NoMereWindmill: Annette is the first person in the family to discover one of the severed heads. But because she has a drinking problem (and, in fact, happened upon the head precisely because she was trying to sneak some booze), the rest of the family just assume that she's experiencing a psychotic reaction as a result of her alcoholism.
47	* OnlySaneMan: Charlie, most of the time.
48	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Laurie is supposedly a race-car driver, but we never see her race.
49	* ProductDeliveryOrdeal: Mob {{Courier}} Tommy Spinelli receives orders from his superior to transport the heads of eight decapitated victims across the United States as proof of their deaths. While taking a commercial flight, he crosses paths with Charlie, young med school graduate on his way to Mexico, and the two of them end up inadvertently switching their luggage because they had identical black duffel bags. Hilarity ensues as Spinelli tries to track down Charlie and retrieve the heads (and procure replacements from the cryonics lab at Charlie's med school, as some of the original heads get lost along the way) in order to complete the delivery.
50	* SanitySlippage: The trauma of being held prisoner by a gangster and being forced to help decapitate cryogenics patients takes quite the toll on poor Steve, and he ends the movie in a mental institution.
51	* SatchelSwitcheroo: The basis of the plot.
52	* ScreamingWoman: Both generations of Bennett females.
53	-->'''Annette:''' I can't stand it! I'm losing my mind! Everywhere I look, there are heads! AAAAAH!
54	* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Dick's mother. She's so unbearable that Tommy ends up throwing her out of a moving car and down a cliff. Annette is very happy.
55	-->'''Annette:''' I thought the old battle-axe would never die!
56	* TooDumbToLive: Grandma. She keeps [[BullyingADragon insulting and ranting at Spinelli right up until the moment he shoves her over a cliff]].
57	-->'''Grandma:''' Get your hands off me, you goon! Don't fuck with meeeeeeee!
58	* WhereDoYouThinkYouAre: On more than one occasion, Charlie has to remind [[TheDitz Laurie]] that many things they take for granted in the U.S. are not the same in Mexico. For example, he explains that in Mexico the police are massively corrupt (which, unfortunately, is TruthInTelevision).

Context Film / EightHeadsInADuffelBag