Duets

Rating:
Summary: Above average film with an innovative plot
Review: Duets is a rather strange movie, but good nonetheless. Now the movie follows different characters that eventually meet up at a karaoke competition. The entire movie focuses around karaoke, but also details trials and tribulations they all face. The now late Bruce Paltrow, accomplished director, and father of the star of this movie, Gwyneth Paltrow, directed the movie. Huey Lewis joins Gwyneth for their story line, and the true singing power of this movie is seen between these two. All of the other stars do a great job with their numbers, and this makes the soundtrack a must buy as well. Overall the movie has a good amount of comedy and some action, but it's not for everyone. The plot is rather trite but still enjoyable. Rent it before you buy it, and maybe you'll get hooked.

Rating:
Summary: one outta three
Review: Of the three stories this movie gives us about people brought together around the world of Karaoke (in pairs, thus "Duets") - one absolutely kills me (in a good way) - and for it I give the movie five stars. That is when Paul Giamatti's Todd Woods has a marvelous life-altering breakthrough/breakdown, realizing that his life, as situated in the so-called American dream (which he makes several interesting comments on after he has wigged out, like how America has turned into a land of strip malls) - is rather empty and meaningless. Such a mid-life existential crisis is not exactly uncommon, but it is his portrayal of this, the exhuberance of that performance, that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck even after watching it for the third time. And the ending of that story, although not completely satisfying and a little far-fetched, it quite something, too. As for the other two stories, one I would give maybe three stars (Gwenyth Paltrow and Huey Lewis doing their father/daughter thing - her beautiful voice in "Cruisin'" would merit all three of those stars but little else), and the final story leaves me so cold and works so poorly that I fast-forward right through those parts. I love the music in this movie. I'm not sure if all the actors sing, but if not it is expertly dubbed. Great choice of songs, great performances of those songs. Despite the inconsistency of the quality of the three stories, this is an unusual, fun, interesting movie with a lot of heart and a lot of spunk and great music, that should not be forgotten (rip Bruce Paltrow). And ultimately, for me, its all about Paul, Paul is my boy. See it to see that performance, people. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: laugh out loud
Review: Ok...I think most of us out there hate Karaoke but this movie was a laugh out loud kind! It does contain some very good performances by Speedman and others! I really liked the school teacher....made me laugh so hard I almost wet my pants! It's a fun ride with a sappy ending that we all knew was going to happen and man Paltrow can sure sing. That's worth seeing the movie for in my book!

Rating:
Summary: Well ... the music's nice
Review: "Duets" is absolutely not a movie for the ages, but it's worth watching on cable or as a bargain movie rental.

The acting is mostly fairly strong -- although Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow is strikingly bad in this, playing some sort of strange little girl-cum-temptress that smacks of a lack of direction more than an actual artistic choice, and it's odd to see Huey Lewis giving a more nuanced performance -- and the music ranges from the merely pleasant to the quite wonderful. (No, I've never heard "Freebird" song like that, either.)

But the plot is all over the map, and is implausible at times, shockingly so in some cases (I'm not sure the scene in the gas station can be glossed over the way it was at the end). The three individual pairs each could have a movie told about them, but instead we get not highlights, but schtick from each. We don't learn more about Scott Speedman's character, really, and his big "affecting" speech at the end just falls flat, since we don't know what's motivating Maria Bellow.

The only thing worth buying here is the soundtrack. The movie itself is a renter, at most.

Rating:
Summary: American Idol?
Review: I saw this movie only after buying the sountrack. The song Cruisin' attracted me and I had to buy the whole CD to get the one song. When I eventually saw the film, I liked it more simply because I was already familiar with the music. If I didn't know the songs, I may not have liked to movie as much because Karaoke and stars-in-the-eyes wannabe crooners in the boondocks don't really inspire me. Overall, I enjoyed it - certainly more than watching American Idol, the only other show I can compare it to in terms of showcasing aspiring performers.

Rating:
Summary: not Great Art, but fun
Review: I remember reading the New York Times review of this movie when it came out, and basically what it said was that this movie is kind of a mess but it's fun anyway. That's right on the money in my view. This may not be the movie I'm going to recommend to all my friends, but the truth is I saw it in the theater and then waited eagerly for it to come out on video.

It's a lot of things in small measure. It's kind of sweet, kind of funny, kind of sad. Probably the biggest shock, if you don't know it to begin with, is that Gwyneth Paltrow can _really_ sing! By now you've heard "Cruisin'" on the radio and you know this, but it's still kind of amazing to see. You can sort of hear that that's really Maria Bello; you know Huey Lewis can sing; you figure Paul Giamatti can sing because they could always get a bland-looking guy from Broadway who can really sing, so why dub it; and Andre Braugher isn't really singing. But I sure wouldn't have figured Gwyneth Paltrow had that voice.

Anyway, though, this movie doesn't hold together perfectly, but it's really worth watching even so.

Rating:
Summary: Go Ahead and Laugh
Review: "Duets" stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis as daughter-and-father karaoke singers.

Go ahead and laugh. Why not? Everyone else does. There's something about karaoke that draws titters. Sure, it's increasingly popular, this singing along to backing tracks, with shows like "Say What! Karaoke" on MTV sending young wannabes into karaoke bars everywhere. But karaoke (Japanese for "empty orchestra"-I guess the singer is supposed to fill the void) is still perceived as something silly that people do when they've had a few too many.

So here's the surprise: "Duets" likes karaoke. In the movie, it's a metaphor for lost souls finding themselves, and, in their conquering a song, an audience, or a competition, filling some kind of spiritual void.

Paltrow, the Oscar-winning actress for "Shakespeare in Love," is the daughter of director Bruce Paltrow, and she comes off as exactly that: a good little girl, more giddy than we've seen her in a while; seeking a reconnection with her father (Lewis), a rock singer reduced to hustling bets at karaoke bars.

Everybody knows that Lewis can sing. But so can Gwyneth, with a shimmering, glistening voice, which she shows off on Jackie DeShannon's "Bette Davis Eyes" and in a duet with Lewis, on Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'."

And so can Paul Giamatti, best known for his role as "Pig Vomit," the hated radio executive in Howard Stern's film, "Private Parts." A supposed karaoke virgin when he hits a bar, by chance, as he reels out of a dead-end routine as a traveling salesman, he nails Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" and is hooked on singing. (Ah, Hollywood. Competing for a $5,000 prize, Lewis surprises Paltrow by calling her onto the stage, where they do an unreheased "Cruisin'" - perfectly, natch. And Giamatti, along with an ex-con hitchhiker played by Andre Braugher, whip up a stunning version of "Try a Little Tenderness," even though Braugher is on the lam and not exactly pleased to have been dragged onto a spotlit stage.)

Braugher actually doesn't sing; his voice is dubbed in. Neither does Scott Speedman, who plays a cab driver. But his pickup, Suzi (Maria Bello, from "Coyote Ugly") does, and acquits herself well on "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Make You Love Me."

Bruce Paltrow does toss in a couple of clinkers, but only briefly, and in the background. Curiously, he doesn't employ any Asian singers in any of the half-dozen or so bars in the movie. Karaoke was invented in Japan, became popular in various Asian cities, and has turned the stereotype of Asians as shy non-performers on its head. But you won't find any evidence of this evolution in "Duets."

Nor will you find much original. You've got yer hesitant parent and kid reunion; yer (black) con on the run hooking up with yer burned-out (white) guy making his own kind of escape. Then there's the cabbie who's just lost his girlfriend, and he just happens into the sexy Suzi, a small-town singer with stars in her eyes; she's itching to go to California. So call it three road movies squished into one, with the three pairs, such as they are, converging at a karaoke contest in Omaha.

See? You laughed again. But that's OK. "Duets" may be a bad movie, but it's the kind of bad that you can enjoy. As the New York Times' A.O. Scott wrote, "We could use more bad movies like this."

Rating:
Summary: one outta three
Review: Of the three stories this movie gives us about people brought together around the world of Karaoke (in pairs, thus "Duets") - one absolutely kills me (in a good way) - and for it I give the movie five stars. That is when Paul Giamatti's Todd Woods has a marvelous life-altering breakthrough/breakdown, realizing that his life, as situated in the so-called American dream (which he makes several interesting comments on after he has wigged out, like how America has turned into a land of strip malls) - is rather empty and meaningless. Such a mid-life existential crisis is not exactly uncommon, but it is his portrayal of this, the exhuberance of that performance, that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck even after watching it for the third time. And the ending of that story, although not completely satisfying and a little far-fetched, it quite something, too. As for the other two stories, one I would give maybe three stars (Gwenyth Paltrow and Huey Lewis doing their father/daughter thing - her beautiful voice in "Cruisin'" would merit all three of those stars but little else), and the final story leaves me so cold and works so poorly that I fast-forward right through those parts. I love the music in this movie. I'm not sure if all the actors sing, but if not it is expertly dubbed. Great choice of songs, great performances of those songs. Despite the inconsistency of the quality of the three stories, this is an unusual, fun, interesting movie with a lot of heart and a lot of spunk and great music, that should not be forgotten (rip Bruce Paltrow). And ultimately, for me, its all about Paul, Paul is my boy. See it to see that performance, people. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Good Movie!
Review: I saw this movie on TV on Encore network, by far its one of my favorite films. After cranking it up on the Klipsch Heresys i liked it even better. Awesome music, Good actors, Great Film.

Rating:
Summary: KARAOKE DREAMS...
Review: This film was directed by Bruce Paltrow, and while it certainly has its minuses, it also has its pluses. At the center of the film is karaoke. It is this performing art form that is the nucleus of all that happens in this film. It is the glue that holds it together. It is at the heart of what propels three divergent pairs of people to occupy the same space at the same time.

The film centers around six people, who end up pairing off in unusual combinations and traveling the karaoke circuit. At the inception of this film, all these people, even those who ultimately pair up, are strangers to each other. All three pairs travel their own route to get the Omaha, the location for the big daddy of all karaoke competitions, in order to compete in the karaoke finals for a grand prize of five thousand dollars. En route to and while in Omaha, they all discover a number of things about themselves and each other.

One unlikely pair consists of Todd Woods (Paul Giamatti) and Reggie Kane (Andre Braugher). Todd is a salesman who is fed up with his job and tired of being ignored by his wife and children. He decides that he is mad as hell and is not going to take it any more. So, he basically runs away from home. He stumbles into a bar, takes up the challenge to sing karaoke, and, voila, a star is born. While driving aimlessly, he runs into hitchhiker Reggie Kane, a man who has gone to prison for exercising bad judgment and is packing a semi-automatic pistol. He and the now nutty Todd form an unlikely friendship.

The second unlikely pair consists of Billy (Scott Speedman) and Suzi Loomis (Maria Bello). Billy is a young, straight-laced cab driver, a former seminarian, who has just had his world rocked when he discovers that his girl friend has been two timing him with his business partner. Wallowing in his misery, he runs into Suzi Loomis who promises to gratify him sexually if he drives her to California. She is an aspiring karaoke singer who does the karaoke circuit for the money. Unfortunately, she also does any men who might have something she needs.

The third unlikely pair consists of a father and daughter team. Ricky Dean (Huey Lewis), is a small time hustler who can sing, so he hustles at karaoke bars. He goes to Vegas when he hears than an old girlfriend has died, and discovers that he has a daughter, Liv (Gwyneth Paltrow), after an almost incestuous welcome. Ricky doesn't want to be a daddy at this stage of the game, but Liv wants to have a father in the worst way. So, she follows him, and they end up hustling together at a karaoke bar, as she, too, can sing.

The one really disturbing thing about this Disney film is that once again Hollywood's inherent racism rears up its ugly head by casting the only African-American in the film in the role of the convict. I am sure the Disney studio was pleased with itself to be including a token African-American in the film in the first place. Why couldn't it think out of the box, however, and have one of the other characters be African-American? Shame on Disney for choosing, instead, to propagate an unflattering stereotype.

Still, this is definitely an odd, quirky movie about the wacky world of competitive karaoke singing and the denizens who inhabit that world. The performances in this film are excellent, overall, and the singing is terrific, although the ending is a bit of a stretch. It is not, however, a film for everyone. It is a film that will appeal to those who enjoy unusual, offbeat films.