If you LOVE Karaoke, keep reading. Duets combines two of my favourite things; Karaoke and a road trip. This is the film where I fell in love with Paul Giamatti as a man who gets sick of the American dream, flips out, takes a road trip away from his family and sings some karaoke. Giamatti knows how to do breakdown and I love a "man on the edge" performance. Watch as he duets here with Andre Braugher:
As his road trip nears the end and his wife finally tracks him down in a karaoke bar to persuade him to come home he very sincerely says: "I can't go back to who I was. I'm different now. I sing." BRILLIANT! As cheesy as the whole thing is I found it poignant and a tear or two may have been shed.
His performance is stand out in the film and I have followed his career religiously ever since.
There are two other duet performances in this film. Huey Lewis plays Gwyneth Paltrow's estranged father and they bond over, you guessed it, Karaoke. As much as I usually hate Paltrow's whiny little guts she is a pretty decent singer and I may have even liked her for the duration of this film. Lewis is just an awesome singer - this we all know.
The third duet relationship is between the wonderful Maria Bello and Scott Speedman who strike up an uneasy romance on the road. It is probably the weakest of the three storylines but Bello belts out her take on the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams and her damaged character is endearing.
This is my guilty pleasure for all the feel good Karaoke moments, the building road trip relationships and Paul Giamatti. Not sure why the haven't released it on blu-ray yet...
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