“Saint John of Las Vegas” Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Rip Empson

If you, like me, will see a movie simply because Steve Buscemi is finally given a leading-man role, then you have all the motivation you need to see “Saint John of Las Vegas.”

For those of you who require more, fair enough--I think there’s something in this movie for you, too.

Maybe.

Admittedly, the trailer for first time writer/director Hue Rhodes’s new indie comedy starring bug-eyed Buscemi didn’t exactly have me in fits of laughter, but it did succeed in piquing my curiosity.

Buscemi stars as John, a compulsive gambler who has fled Las Vegas in an effort to pursue a more “normal” life. He chooses insurance as his occupation and Albuquerque as the setting for his return to  productive life. But will he be successful? Foreshadowing, my friends, foreshadowing!

So far, so good.

Supporting Buscemi is an excellent cast of talented character and comedic actors. John’s boss, for example, is played by the great Peter Dinklage (“Elf,” “Death at Funeral,” and “The Station Agent”), who makes John his top “fraud debunker” and sends him on a road trip with the suspicious Virgil (Romany Malco of “Weeds” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) to Las Vegas to investigate a case of potential insurance fraud. Not Las Vegas!

John leaves behind his smiley-face-obsessed co-worker and potential girlfriend (played by the inimitable Sarah Silverman) to return to his Hades. On the road trip, Virgil and John encounter a wheelchair-bound stripper (Emmanuelle Chriqui, known for her role as Eric’s girlfriend on “Entourage”), and a nude militant (Tim Blake Nelson), among other wacky characters. Hilarity ensues. Hopefully.

“Saint John” is produced by Spike Lee and Stanley Tucci, who themselves know a thing or two about well-drawn comedic characters. So, all in all, this assemblage of names seems to say something about the quality and potential of the script and story--and quells any reservations you may have garnered from the trailer with regard to the film feeling as if it’s trying to be too quirky, or that Buscemi’s voice-over and his character appear flat and slightly cliched.

With obvious biblical and mythological references in both names and events--and the writer/director’s admission to basing John’s journey on bits of Dante’s “Inferno”--the film evokes clever allegorical-type works like “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Barton Fink.” The Coen brothers are well known for their stylized mythological/historical pastiches, and I hope Hue Rhodes’s “Saint John of Las Vegas” follows a similar path. It definitely will be interesting to see if the film’s narrative finds a balance, or instead becomes a jangled mash-up of quirky characters. The possibility is evident.

That being said, my expectations are high. So, if in the end, you can’t pass up seeing Dinklage behind a desk with four garish, plastic columns positioned around his desk or a suggestive Sarah Silverman with an obsession for smiley faces, then I recommend going to see the film when it’s released on January 29, 2010. I’ll be there. With plenty of Junior Mints to go around.

View the trailer for "Saint John of Las Vegas" below. Thoughts?