Starring Joe Pesci, Andy Comeau, Kristy Swanson, George Hamilton and Dyan Cannon Directed by Tom Schulman Rated R, with profanity and comic violence Running time 93 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 7 out of 10

(April 18, 1997) -- So you think YOU'VE had trouble with your baggage at the airport?

If you go south and your bags go north, at least you only stand to lose some sports clothes, underwear and a bathing suit.

For Tommy Spinelli, the consequences are far more serious. He's a courier for the mob, and he's carrying 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag.

No, it's not lettuce; he's delivering "evidence" that the eight members of a competing mob gang have all been rubbed out, as ordered. Tommy is bringing them from the East to his boss in San Diego. He just didn't figure he would end up on the same flight as a college kid heading to Mexico for a vacation -- who would be carrying exactly the same type of duffel bag.

When they leave the airport Tommy has luggage full of tank tops and shorts, while a kid named Charlie heads off for a vacation with his girlfriend and her parents, unknowingly carrying the capital offenses. When each finds what he has, comic mayhem ensues.

That's the clever -- if slightly demented -- premise of a wacky new black comedy starring Joe Pesci (who else?) as the frustrated mob errand boy. Tom Schulman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Dead Poet's Society" and What About Bob?, makes his directorial debut.

Schulman's screenplay works the fertile ground of classic mistaken-identity and chase comedies. Under his direction, Pesci and a bright ensemble generate both laughs and energy, though all concerned eventually run out of steam. A relatively lackluster finale fails to deliver the knockout punch the premise deserves.

The ensemble includes newcomer Andy Comeau as Charlie, the college student; Kristy Swanson as his girlfriend; and an entertaining pairing of veterans, George Hamilton and Dyan Cannon, as the girl's parents.

Comic actors David Spade and Todd Louiso also co-star as Charlie's fraternity brothers at a college back east. In the script's most unlikely stretch, they also get roped into the saga. But the implausibility is forgiven because their scenes with mobster Pesci are among the funniest in the film.

And even the disembodied heads get into the act in a fantasy sequence. They perform a doo-wop version of Mr. Sandman, offering convincing proof that eight heads are better than one.