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Susan Granger's review of "DUETS" (Hollywood Pictures/Disney)
For Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, making this dark comedy was obviously a labor of love since it's directed by her real-life father, Bruce Paltrow (creator of TV's "St. Elsewhere," "The White Shadow"), who was stricken with throat cancer. Shooting began in Vancouver only three weeks after he completed radiation therapy. The story revolves around six unhappy characters hoping to win $5,000 in a karaoke competition in Omaha, Nebraska. Huey Lewis plays a karaoke hustler who meets his long-lost daughter, a third-generation Las Vegas showgirl - that's the too-thin, too flat-chested-to-be-believable as an innocent showgirl Gwyneth, when they're introduced by her grandmother (Angie Dickinson in a cameo) at her mother's wake. Paul Giamatti's a meek, mild-mannered salesman, obsessed with redeeming his frequent flyer miles, who picks up a hitchhiking escaped convict, Andre Braugher. And Maria Bello, as a scheming waitress/wannabe rock star, promises sexual favors to a Cincinnati taxi driver, Scott Speedman. They're all maudlin misfits who like to sing but, for the most part, their renditions make you cringe. Gwyneth's not bad warbling "Bette Davis Eyes," but she's not good either. Written by John Byrum, this manipulative, ill-fated project has gone through several incarnations, beginning originally as a starring vehicle for Gwyneth Paltrow and her then-fiance Brad Pitt. After they split up, it was revised and, in an unprecedented move, because of its violent content, Disney shopped "Duets" around to other studios; eventually, studio executives decided to re-cut it, editing the objectionable scenes. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Duets" is a disappointing, discordant 4. This rambling, raucous road trip-to- redemption saga strikes a distinctly sour note.
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