Duets
Director Bruce Paltrow teams with his Oscar-winning daughter Gwyneth Paltrow for this road comedy with music. Paltrow plays Liv, a struggling professional singer whose meets her father, Ricky Dean (Huey Lewis), for the first time at the funeral of her mother. As it turns out, both Liv and Ricky supplement the income from few-and-far-between gigs by singing in karaoke contests, and soon father and daughter are competing on the same circuit. Meanwhile, Todd Woods (Paul Giamatti), a salesman who has grown disenchanted with his job, his family, and his life, picks up a hitch-hiker named Reggie Kane (Andre Braugher), and during a stop at a tavern, they discover they make a good duet team while belting out a version of "Try A Little Tenderness." And waitress Suzi Loomis (Maria Bello) sweet talks Billy (Scott Speedman), a cabbie, into driving her to Omaha, where the national karaoke finals will determine who does the best job of singing along with the records, as the lives of these six characters begin to intersect. Duets also features Angie Dickinson as Blair, Liv's grandmother who was once a showgirl in Frank Sinatra's Las Vegas floorshow; Brad Pitt was originally cast in Speedman's role but withdrew after he and Paltrow announced the end of their off-camera relationship. more..
Director: Bruce Paltrow
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow,Andre Braugher, Paul Giamatti, Maria Bello, Huey Lewis
Has little islands of humor and even perfection, floating in a sea of missed marks and murky intentions.
Appealing, and ultimately moving.
The ensemble cast, struggling with wanly written characters, hits more clunkers than high notes.
The joys of singing give the movie a hook, but when Duets aims for lyricism, it's got a tin ear.
Too crisp and calculated to match the moods of its wild and woolly characters, and its interwoven subplots lead to predictable outcomes.
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