EXCESS BAGGAGE (1997)—Are you there Dave? It’s me, Romance.

Cinema of Cruelty (Movies for Masochists)

On this week’s deep dive, The Cultists present Excess Baggage (1997). An utterly perplexing and largely forgotten film, “Excess” tells the tale of a young sociopath with a penchant for pyromania whose impulsive plan to fake kidnap herself sets off a chain reaction of inconsequential events that will culminate in a sexual rendezvous with a mumbling high luxury thief in a car trunk. Sporting an eclectic cast of Alicia Silverstone, Benicio Del Toro, Harry Connick Jr and Christopher Walken (and peppered with THE SAME Dave Mathews Band song throughout to tell us that this is technically supposed to be a Rom-Com), this film remains a tonal oddity—One that would have faded into total obscurity if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s initial production contract set off its own curious chain reaction of events that would forever set the bar for industry salary inflation...

Episode Safe Word(s): “market value”