THE BIG KAHUNA
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: There is not a whole lot of plot
in this stage play adapted to the screen. Three
salesmen come to a Wichita hotel to sell
industrial lubricants. Each of the characters
is something of a cliche. They talk about life
and their dreams and their regrets. The film
really does not get very far, but the characters
are interesting enough just to listen to.
Rating: 7 (0 to 10), +2 (-4 to +4) I give a URL
where that great speech of advice from the end
of the film can be read and savored.
When American playwrights want to have a character in a frustrating, thankless occupation they usually pick that of salesman. We have had Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN, William Inge's DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, and David Mamet's GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. Roger Rueff has taken a crack at the same field with his stage play "The Big Kahuna," which he has now adapted for the screen. The plot of THE BIG KAHUNA is fairly minimal. Two veteran salesmen and a young representative from research come to a Wichita hotel to sell industrial lubricants. The three bounce off each other as they talk about life, love, business, religion, death, and each's history. Almost the entire play takes place in one room with little more than trimmings taking place outside the room.
Lodestar Laboratories has sent three salesmen to a fancy hotel hosting a convention in Wichita. The three are to run a hospitality suite. Phil Cooper (Danny DeVito in one of his best roles ever) has brought Tom Walker (Peter Facinelli) to his first convention. Walker is not really a salesman, but was borrowed from R&D because he had the right sort of image. The pair is almost directly joined by the supremely cynical Larry Mann (Kevin Spacey, reprising the more nasty parts of his personality from AMERICAN BEAUTY), a salesman with the personality of a thundercloud. Larry goes immediately into an angry tantrum because the food Phil has ordered is not fine enough and the suite of rooms is not big enough. Observing in timid fear is Bob. As the three talk we eventually find out about each of them. Larry is intentionally crude and cruel to get a reaction and to get his own way. He has an unpleasant way of turning a friendly conversation into a cross-examination. He analyzes and examines people around him like specimens on a slide. Phil is nearly burned out and used up. Divorced, he lives alone and nurtures a death wish. Placid and less intolerant than his long- time partner Larry, he quietly sits and reads PENTHOUSE magazine while Larry's storms blow over. His job is most of his life now. Young Bob is a Baptist with an urge to draw Christ into every conversation.
For any play that is really a filmed conversation, the rules of plotting are different from most films. The author only has to keep the characters together long enough so something interesting comes out of their mouths. And THE BIG KAHUNA is a lot closer in style to WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF and MY DINNER WITH ANDRE than it is to most films you will see in a theater today. The film sinks or swims by how interesting the conversation is and what it tells us about the people having it. For much of THE BIG KAHUNA the style is like the old Sunday morning TV plays that showed modern people in distress and at the end of a half hour they would smugly point to religion as the ultimate problem solver. This almost seemed to be a longer version of one of those plays. Toward the end even Bob's religious fervor comes under attack with a few well-placed verbal shots.
The play is written with more symmetry and stylistic contrivance than is at first apparent. Each character has a secret fantasy we see enacted. The dialog is good dialog and is engrossing, but that is not the same thing as realistic dialog. (Ask William Shakespeare.) In this case the Rueff contrives to have each of the characters laid bare to the audience.
This is a film that will not be for all tastes, nor will it bring in the audiences that an action film would, but it has its rewards. If it does not do great boxoffice, at least the production costs were small. I rate it 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Oh, and the great monologue of advice at the end of the film. That is "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" by Mary Smich and read by Baz Luhrmann, and you can find the words at http://www.thepositivemind.com/HTML/Sunscreen.html
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 2000 Mark R. Leeper
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