Posted: 07/04/2001

Duets

(2000)

by Ashley Cook

Gwenyth Paltrow’s dad directs her and Huey Lewis in a film about karaoke clubs. Huh?

I bought the soundtrack way before I even saw the movie. I feel like a dork admitting this, but I love when Gwenyth Paltrow (Bounce, Shakespeare in Love) sings Betty Davis Eyes. And who would have thought that Huey Lewis (Shadow of Doubt, Short Cuts) could act? Well, he is a well known singer and he does a great rendition of Joe Cocker’s Feelin’ Alright. And, yes, his acting is pretty good, as well, so I give him a thumbs up. The cast in this flick is pretty cool, but the storyline could use some work. Written by John Byrum, who normally writes for TV on such shows as South of Sunset (1993) and Murder in High Places (1991), could have used something real. Karaoke is a fantasy in itself; people think they sound good with a mic in hand and an audience to hopefully cheer them on.

Duets is a cute and complicated movie with a sort of Magnolia-thing going on where all the characters in an angst ridden journey come together in the end. Paltrow plays a young lost girl, Liv, who’s Mother dies and she meets up with her father (Lewis) to put together the pieces of a failed family connection.

Directed by her real life daddy, Bruce Paltrow, seems to help put another movie on the map of his daughter’s reel. Liv and her father take karaoke on the road and hustle the local pubs just to make it to the final competition in Omaha, Nebraska.

All the characters have their own personal problems with the world and life in general. Karaoke seems to shut off any festering fallacies that follow the tour, but they can only run for so long. Karaoke can be an escape or your worst nightmare. If you have ever gone to a bar, you know that most people sound like shit, even if you are actually good. Usually the sound system can make even Huey Lewis sound like crap, but in this movie of course Gwenyth sounds like a princess and Lewis probably made sure his mic was at the right check.

I don’t want to discourage anyone if they liked this flick or still are planning on renting it on video/DVD, but I was pretty much bored throughout the whole thing. My attention span is somewhat longer than most people’s my age, but I couldn’t watch the whole thing; I was distracted by other things that would normally bore me. Even so, Duets is still fun to watch…for the singing, for those few small glimpses of non-actors doing a great job. Of course, that’s just my opinion. You can always make your own conclusion.

Ashley Cook is a writer and student living in L.A.

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