(rated R, 90 mins) On the heels of “American Beauty” Kevin Spacey revisits his world of midlife crisis, this time as a sharp-tongued, fast talking, slick salesman (a la “Glengarry Glenn Ross), desperate to land a big client known as the “Big Kahuna”, a lubricant salesman, with the help of Danny DeVito (his “L.A. Confidential” co-star). An intelligent film that leaves you feeling the cast wraps up a lesson from beginning to end. The story is more of a “sketch”, as the scenes revolve around each man expressing his thoughts, beliefs and philosophies to each other, over the course of night into day, in the middle of Wichita, Kansas. Good opening, great ending but drags a bit in the middle as they reflect on their integrity yet struggle to exist while doing the right thing. Good thing it’s only 90 minutes. Not Spacey’s best, and originally meant to be a stage play, this movie was shot in two weeks time between Spacey’s “Iceman Cometh” performance, where Spacey always reigns as the king of theatre. It should be noted that some of the films best moments come from the challenges between Spacey and his costar Peter Facinelli (“Can’t Hardly Wait”) who would rather sell “Jesus” than lubricants.
