Idle Hands (1999)

Idle Hands is strange enough that it belongs somewhere in a genre of its own. When I first saw this film many years ago I thought is was another teen spoof like the Scary Movie series, but in all actuality the film isn't a spoof on any particular film but more so a hybrid of stoner teen comedy and bizarre horror.

Seventeen year old high school slacker, Anton Tobias, wakes up to notice his house is unusually quiet, not thinking too much of it Anton goes about his daily routine of smoking weed, watching TV, and killing whatever remaining brain cells he has. Eventually Anton discovers the remains of his decapitated parents and needless to say he's a little freaked out. There have been reports of a killer on the loose in his town over the past few days, now it appears his parents were the latest victims. But once Anton discovers his parents he also quickly discovers who the murderer is, his own hand!

It appears his right hand been possessed, now has a mind of its own and unknowingly to Anton has been controlling him and causing him to kill people throughout his city. After forcing him to off his two best friends it sets its sights on the lovely Molly (Jessica Alba) across the street, whom Anton has been pining for and finally gathered enough courage to ask out. With the help of his two undead friends, Pnub and Mick, Anton must succeed in preventing his hand from hurting anyone else especially Molly, no matter what it takes.

 

As I'm sure you've gathered from the summary of the film, Idle Hands is a pretty stupid film. It's definitely not scary, and it's rarely very funny either. Seth Green and Eldon Henson are the comedy relief which mainly consists of overused stoner jokes that may have been fresh and funny in the late 90's but are now barely amusing. The one and only reason I would ever bother recommending this film is for the opportunity to see a young and drop dead gorgeous Jessica Alba, who'd I'd go as far to say is probably the hottest you'll ever she her. She doesn't have a whole lot of screen time but it almost makes this film worth watching. Why the writers didn't scrap the lame stoners and make a film around Alba's character is a mystery to me, then this would have been a film worth watching over and over.

5/10