| |
|
Yar, you be here: The Big Kahuna > Customer Reviews The Big Kahuna Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 16 Reviews)Well done, but nothing really new in this familiar salesman story.
This 1999 film, which has the feeling of a play, stars Kevin Spacy and Danny DeVito. The setting is a hotel room in Wichita, Kansas. There's a convention going on and these two men are salesmen with a background of making sleazy deals. They need a deal right now because the company is in financial trouble. They're hoping that a major retailer will show up at the party at their suite. Their careers rest on getting his business. There's a new salesman in the company though, played by Peter Facinelli. He's young and idealistic and very religious. He doesn't drink or swear and he talks about Jesus. Immediately there is conflict, as the veteran salesmen do their best to influence this new recruit. Problems ensue when the religious guy does get the ear of the retailer. But he only talks to him about religion. The dialog is fast and sharp. The acting is excellent Some interesting questions are raised. What is salesmanship anyway? Is a product the only thing that can be sold? What about religion? I enjoyed this film and do recommend it. But my recommendation is a mild one, mainly because there are no surprises and the theme is a little tired. Deferential Meditation on Theistic Existentialism
"Have your masks and your ruses, that ye may be mistaken for what you are" ~ Nietzsche This is one of those rare gems that draws me in everytime. It questions the roles and social masking inherent in the daily round of modern life that each plays a part in shaping while providing serious inquiry into it's spiritual pitfalls and parodies. Within the characters, the question is posed: what is behind our mass society, and where does conforming to its structures leave man? ..Not the impersonal, false man acting out his prescribed role within the crowd, but the true spirit of man which suffers endless indignities in silence in order to fulfill either an imposed or self inflicted role. How one addresses or ignores the imposition, and from that, how one's character is stunted or transformed.("the bestial dullness and habitual security which most men doze until they die" ~ Kierkegaard) As DeVito's character says(paraphrasing)'the moment you lay your hands on a conversation in order to steer it, you're no longer a human being; you're a salesman making a pitch'. It can be realestate, widgets, civil rights, or faith, it doesn't matter, because if you're not interacting with your fellow man simply to discover what's in his heart, what his dreams are, for no other purpose besides that, than you're no longer earnest, you're not being thoroughly honest because you're seeking to shape and impose. Other reviewer's have already outlined the story, so I won't reiterate. Suffice it to say, the title, "The Big Kahuna," of course alludes to God, and ironically uses a rather banal situation as a vehicle to examine what and how we perceive God to be, and how those perceptions shape our existence whether or not our third-eye-spiritual-awareness is foremost within our interactions and choices. The character structure and dialogue is rich with revealing observations that most of us, depending upon where the viewer is within their particular path, will readily identify with. The casting is perfect as each actor realistically portrays three common personality archetypes: the overzealous, naive idealism and indoctrination of inexperienced youth. The middle of the road "business as usual" can-do man, who largely uses his career to stave off deliberating the vexing dilemmas of the heart and soul. And lastly, DeVito's character, whose life is immersed in events, feelings, and a long felt inner termoil now dawning with sense of prophetic calling. His character is truly in the thick of it, so to speak, and is presented as the primary, deliberative spiritual crux of how these three interact. It's not as though Spacey's character isn't experiencing the inner storm as well, it's just that life hasn't yet brought him to that tipping point where denial becomes an unaffordable luxury. It's interesting to note the perceptive Nietzsche/Kierkegaard comparison between these two characters. The atmosphere is intentionally sterile, mirroring the empty societal roles that people often chain their lives to, and the point being, at face value, so much of this movie appears to be much less than what it actually is. At the emotional climax of their involvement, all three confront and reveal themselves, how each approaches faith, perceptions, their acceptance and even reluctance to embrace their own and the other's inevitable fallibility. There's a great deal more to this moving picture than meets the eye. 4-star hotel
Basically a filmed play - but so what? It is a production. So was "Driving Miss Daisy" a play with just three actors. The essence to the play is the end - Danny DeVito's "soliloquy" to the younger salesman about being self-righteous. This requires the build-up of (verbal) events prior to this. A good lesson for all of us. Essentailly a 4-star hotel. 5-stars are for "Dances With Wolves" and the like...
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
© 2004 DVD Booty | Don't Plunder Our Cache of Booty, Matey! Hosting Provided by Getting Debt Help |
