By Ron Wilkinson Jan 29, 2010, 18:54 GMT
A road trip to Vegas turns into a road trip to Hell in this great little romp with the master of misfortune, Steve Buscemi
In his debut feature film, writer/director Hue Rhodes has teamed up with famous Italian author Dante Aligheri (1265-1321) and lead actor Steve Buscemi to produce a great little parable about truth to oneself, truth to others and getting lucky.
Buscemi plays John, a Las Vegas everyman who has seen some hard times in the form of a gambling addiction but escaped to a normal job in Albuquerque before ruination set in. Jon has been on the job for several years and things are going well. He has moved up through the ranks of the flea-bitten office, is having a successful affair with Jill in the next cubicle (Sarah Silverman) and has finally worked up the nerve to ask his cynical and arrogant boss Mr. Townsend (Peter Dinklage) for a raise.
Mr. Townsend expertly belittles John and informs him directly and indirectly that he has no more chance of a raise than a snowball has of surviving in hell. But he does offer John “more responsibility” and a shot at the coveted “Level 6 Adjustor” position and everything that comes with it (the corner office). All he has to do is prove himself by successfully completing a mission to save the company a $200G payout to one Tasty Delight, a dusty stripper who claims to have been rear-ended.
That is, she claims her car was rear-ended. Knowing this will be a tough one, Mr. Townsend dispatches ace fraud buster Virgil (Romany Malco--“The Forty Year Old Virgin,” “Weeds” TV series) to be John’s mentor during his journey to “Level 6 adjustor” paradise.
The great Steve Buscemi plays "John Alighieri" (as in Dante Alighieri), a reformed compulsive gambler with a comfortable, if mundane, life living in a tract home and working for an insurance agency. After he asks his diminutive but scairy boss (Peter Dinklage) for a raise he finds himself promoted to chief fraud buster. That is, tentative fraud buster, to be permanent only after he proves himself. Set up with the hilariously sketchy partner "Virgil" (Romany Malco) he is sent on an investigation that proves to be a metaphoric descent into hell. His own personal version of Hades since the investigation takes place in Las Vegas, the city at the bottom of his most unpleasant personal history.
He and "Virgil's" various bizarre encounters on their journey include a sexy stripper in a wheelchair (Emmanuelle Chriqui) still trying to perform lap dances and a group of heavily armed right-wing survivalists (including "O Brother's" Tim Blake Nelson) who also happen to be nudists. In the most surreal scene of any film you will see, a tow-truck driver who has a second job as a circus performer is stuck in a lawn chair in a flame-retardant suit that periodically catches on fire (and, hilariously, what he really wants is a cigarette). There are some nice twists at the end and the character reaches a final personal epiphany while buying scratch tickets at a convenience store on the outskirts of the dreaded Vegas.
Sarah Silverman plays a co-worker who he starts an affair with after a quickie in the woman's bathroom before he leaves on his journey. It's an unusual role for Silverman, not only in that it exploits her considerable sex appeal, but also in that while it is a comedy role, it is one very different from her usual foul-mouthed stand-up persona. Buscemi, on the other hand, doesn't stretch himself too much, but he doesn't have to either--he's great at roles like this. The director is a first-timer and this is particularly impressive as a debut effort (I suppose could complain that the only full-frontal nudity is provided, not by Emmanuelle Chriqui or Silverman, but by Tim Blake Nelson!--but I won't).
This is an entertaining film thanks to another super performance by Steve Buscemi. The film is loosely based on Dante Aligheri’s “Inferno” but most viewers will not pick that up from the film alone. Without having that framework the screenplay looks like a patchwork of episodes looking for a story. In any event, Buscemi’s devoted apostles will thoroughly enjoy the flick. The director creates solid surreal scenes at the nudist compound and, to some extent, with the wheelchair lap dance. Having said that, any comparison of this film with “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” is very misleading. It is a good first effort for the director but his best work is still ahead of him.
Directed by: Hue RhodesWritten by: Dante Alighieri (story) and Hue Rhodes (screenplay)
Starring: Steve Buscemi and Romany Malco
Release: January 29, 2010MPAA: Rated R for language and some nudityRuntime: 85 minutesCountry: USA Language: EnglishColor: Color
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