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Karaoke [Ha-ha] is the Co-Star in 'Duets'
Ben's a featured character in "Almost Famous," written and directed by Cameron Crowe. (A true story written and directed by Crowe - his first
since writing and directing Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire.") ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 rap and rock fans 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 "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 boring routine as a traveling salesman, he nails Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" and is suddenly 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'" ?�in perfect harmony, natch. And Giamatti, along with an ex-con hitchhiker played by Andre Braugher, ex- of "Homicide," whip up a stunning version of "Try a Little Tenderness," even though Braugher is a gun-toting paranoid who's not exactly pleased to have been dragged onto a spotlit stage.)
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 wildly 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. "Duets" may be studded with some pleasant dollops of music, but the words?�that is, the script?�dooms it. 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." -------------------- Related:
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