Duets **** (2000, Gwyneth Paltrow, Huey Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Angie Dickinson, Scott Speedman, Andre Braugher, Maria Bello) – Classic Movie Review 892

My how time flies! It’s the year 2000 and Angie Dickinson is playing Gwyneth Paltrow’s grandmother, for heaven’s sake, and Huey Lewis is playing her father in her real father Bruce Paltrow’s touching, clever, bitter-sweet comedy drama. It is set around the lives of six desperate human beings, a motley group of amateur singers trying to hit the big time at a karaoke contest.

Maria Bello plays Suzi Loomis, a waitress who must get to California to start a recording career; Andre Braugher plays Reggie Kane, a convict who’s on the run with a gun; Lewis is Ricky Dean, a karaoke hustler who arrives for his wife’s funeral and meets his Vegas showgirl daughter, Liv (Paltrow).

Plus there’s Scott Speedman as a down-on-his-luck cabbie called Billy and Paul Giamatti as Todd Woods, a salesman confronting the death of the American dream. Their lives intertwine and change forever as they converge on the $5000 karaoke contest at Omaha, Nebraska.

Some audiences seemed disappointed with this one, but it’s entertaining, quirky, slick, well-played stuff. John Byrum’s screenplay is very effective and so is Bruce Paltrow’s direction. It’s a thoroughly likeable, warm, charming film, and extra welcome as it’s a little bit unusual and out of the regular rut. Gwyneth Paltrow sings – very well too – with Lewis.

It was Bruce Paltrow’s second and last cinema film as director, after A Little Sex (1982). He died on October 3 2002 in Rome, aged 58.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 892 derekwinnert.com