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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Go Ahead and Laugh, May 14, 2001
"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."
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DVD ~ Ben Affleck
DVD ~ Paul Giamatti
~ Huey Lewis & the News
DVD ~ Gwyneth Paltrow
DVD ~ Ed Harris
