Duets
Current hip young star Gwyneth Paltrow makes an unlikely pairing with 1980s rock star Huey Lewis in this film - sure to resonate in Hong Kong - that follows the lives of six karaoke contest competitors as they criss-cross America hoping for a crack at the US$5,000 (HK$38,950) title in Omaha, Nebraska. Many of the ensemble cast sing with their own voices. Directed by the star's father, Bruce Paltrow.
A O Scott
The New York Times
'Every so often a movie comes along that's bad in such original and unexpected ways that . . . you leave the theatre in a state of amazement, and say to yourself, 'Well, I've certainly never seen anything like that before' . . . Duets is such a movie. It is not quite Ishtar or Showgirls - but it will probably, as those films have, inspire a devoted video cult. Best to see it now - I can't imagine you'll have much time - and reserve yourself a charter membership. How can you resist seeing Paltrow, in a pink outfit that looks as if it was stitched together out of old women's bathing caps, singing Bette Davis Eyes? Or Huey Lewis doing Joe Cocker.
'Last spring, the release of Duets was held up by a dispute between Bruce Paltrow and Disney about how it should be edited. The argument seems to have been settled with a blunt axe and a staple gun. Lacking any narrative rhythm, the film flops around like a carp on the kitchen floor, jumping from scene to scene, from musical number to emotional confrontation, before you can figure out what is going on. Still, its chaotic sprawl yields some moments of indelible brilliance . . . It intermittently reveals a dimension of loneliness and vulnerability in the lives of its characters, and suggests their desperate drift is the symptom of a larger cultural disorder.'
Desson Howe