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The Big Kahuna

2000, Movie, R, 90 mins

The Big Kahuna: Review

BIG KAHUNA, THE | HOSPITALITY SUITE
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Three industrial-lubricant salesmen — old pros Larry (Kevin Spacey) and Phil (Danny DeVito), plus wet-behind-the-ears Bob (Peter Facinelli) — gather in a cramped hospitality suite in an anonymous Wichita, KS, hotel; their mission is to land an audience with a potential client, the "big kahuna" of the title. Over the course of a long, emotionally draining evening, they bare their tormented souls: Phil is newly divorced and clearly sliding into the grip of depression; Larry is a roman candle of blunt ambition; and the self-righteous Bob is having trouble reconciling his religious principles with the profane and opportunistic world of dog-eat-dog salesmanship. Adapted from a stage play by Roger Rueff, a former chemical engineer whose first-hand experience of the fear, anxiety and depression of working life is clear, this claustrophobic drama is undermined by the familiarity of the material. Though uniformly well acted (in Spacey's case, exceptionally well acted), it's neither as ferocious as Glengarry Glen Ross nor as finely crafted as Death of a Salesman, two plays-turned-movies it inevitably recalls. The film is an impressive achievement, shot in 16 days by John Swanbeck (a theater director making his movie debut), while Spacey (whose long-term commitment to the project was instrumental in making it happen) rehearsed for his Broadway appearance in the notoriously difficult The Iceman Cometh. Everyone concerned deserves credit for pulling it off, but it's a chamber piece that probably should have stayed where it started, in regional theater. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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