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[Short Reviews]

JACKPOT

A karaoke singer wanders through the West fleeing family ties and searching for pots of gold in shabby singing contests offered by hole-in-the-wall dives off the interstate . . . wait a minute, didn’t we just see that film with Gwyneth Paltrow in Duets?

Fresh from their original and downright weird debut Twin Falls, Idaho, director and co-writer Michael Polish and his twin brother, Mark, have taken the same tepid concept and tried to crank it up with a style reminiscent of Alan Rudolph in Songwriter. Skewed chronology (centered on Daryl Hannah in a thankless role), close-ups of cigarette ends and automobile cassette decks, a running gag of a guru voiced by Patrick Bauchau, and lingering shots of sweaty, stubbled losers facing desolation in Edward Hopper motel rooms don’t make the tale any less formulaic. And after about an hour of stylish diversion, Jackpot proves to have no payoff.

Jon Gries as Sunny Holiday helps keep the dream alive; whippet-like and endearing, he makes a scene in which he sells one-night-stand Peggy Lipton a jug of rug shampoo seem almost spontaneous. Garrett Morris as Sunny’s dogged but ineffectual manager is sad, deluded, and wise in his porkpie hat. This road movie goes nowhere, though, and a conclusion that tries to be cryptic is merely confused. These are filmmakers with talent and ambition, but they haven’t hit the jackpot yet.

By Peter Keough

Issue Date: August 2-9, 2001





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