Saint John of Las Vegas
The deck is stacked with oddball characters and outrageous twists in one of the year's most hilarious and original comedies. Compulsive gambler Johnny (Steve Buscemi) had finally beaten the habit, started a new life, and said farewell to Vegas for good... or so he thought. When his new boss sends him back to Sin City to investigate a shady insurance claim, all the chips are back on the table. Sarah Silverman, Romany Malco, Peter Dinklage, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Tim Blake Nelson complete a royal flush of an ensemble cast in this laugh-riot comedy that's loaded with high-stakes temptations and low-down crooks.
Member Reviews
Lame - Mool
What's the worst? Buscemi playing a loser, but who ends up making out with Sarah Silverman, for no discernible reason, other than a lame plot gag. Or is it the movie description that uses words like hilarious? No really funny. Or the appalling writing? Could be. There are lots of reasons why one star is too many for this movie.This comedy rolls snake eyes - jagfilm
Executive produced by Spike Lee and Stanley Tucci and boasting esteemed independent actors and comedians such as Steve Buscemi, Peter Dinklage, Sarah Silverman, Romany Malco and Emmanuelle Chriqui there is no excuse for Saint John Of Las Vegas to be this bad.
The debut feature length film by writer and director Hue Rhodes certainly has a decent premise. John (Buscemi) is a gambler who is cursed with bad luck and takes a job at a insurance company filing claims to make ends meet. He gets an opportunity to prove himself and move up the corporate ladder when his boss Mr. Townsend (Dinklage) sends him to investigate a fraudulent car insurance claim. Teaming with Virgil (Malco), the duo head out the deserts of Nevada to track down the claimant, Tasty D. Lite (Chriqui), see if she's really hurt and if the car was really damaged in an accident.
Unfortunately for Rhodes, his counter-intuitive casting, coupled with a severely uneven script makes Saint John Of Las Vegas an uninspired, unfunny and lifeless ride. While Buscemi and Dinklage, two of the most seasoned actors among the cast, bring some class to the proceedings in their respective roles some of the other casting decisions are head-scratchers. Silverman, known for her salty tongue, is constrained in a role that requires very little of her except to act perky; Malco, who is blessed with impeccable comic timing spends most of the film not saying anything and Chriqui is wasted in what amounts to a glorified cameo that constricts her to a wheelchair. Rhodes clearly seemed to be trying to get actors to play against type, but in doing so, the director ends up sucking the air right out of his film.
With characters that are sketched out as little more than one-note quirks repeated infinitely, there is not much the cast can do here with the thin material they're given. We're left to ponder what attracted Lee and Tucci to the script in the first place, but this one definitely rolls snake eyes.
Member Reviews
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Lame - Mool
What's the worst? Buscemi playing a loser, but who ends up making out with Sarah Silverman, for no discernible reason, other than a lame plot gag. Or is it the movie description that uses words like hilarious? No really funny. Or the appalling writing? Could ...This comedy rolls snake eyes - jagfilm
Executive produced by Spike Lee and Stanley Tucci and boasting esteemed independent actors and comedians such as Steve Buscemi, Peter Dinklage, Sarah Silverman, Romany Malco and Emmanuelle Chriqui there is no excuse for Saint John Of Las Vegas to be this bad.
The ...