The Big Kahuna

THE BIG KAHUNA

Rating: C+
This film is based on a play written by Roger Rueff (who also wrote the screenplay). I mention this because the entire look of the movie gives the appearance of being a play caught on film. Almost all of the action takes place in one setting (a hotel hospitality suite), and the whole plot is driven by the dialogue exchanges between the three major characters (Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, and Peter Facinelli). When DeVito reads a copy of Penthouse magazine, the action is not to advance the plot, but to provide the other characters a means for revealing aspects of themselves. Even the themes touched upon, and the manner in which the movie is brought to a close, shout "play!". This isn't necessarily a bad thing - better to remain true to the source material than to ruin it trying to make a full-blown movie out of it - but I'm warning you now what to expect.

Spacey and DeVito play veteran salesmen (aka "marketing reps") for a low-profile manufacturer of industrial supplies. They've rented a suite at a hotel convention, and the entire success of their mission hinges on whether they can sell a major potential client on their company's new line of industrial lubricants. Facinelli is a young engineer just out of college brought along for technical support. Needless to say, his bright-eyed idealism is on a collision course with their world-weary cynicism.

Having an out-of-town business convention be the setting for the story works very effectively, since it's just such a situation where people representing various backgrounds and beliefs are suddenly brought together in an unnatural fashion. They barely know each other in some cases, but suddenly find themselves having to coordinate their lives together during a time when they're isolated from the rest of the world. As Spacey reminds Facinelli, during the convention they have one mission only - to bring home the bacon for their company - and all other worldly concerns must be swept aside.

As the movie progresses, the meaning of the "Big Kahuna" evolves beyond just referring to their target customer. Spacey envisions becoming the "Big Kahuna" of marketing, where all others bow deferentially in his presence. Eventually, DeVito and Spacey have a philosophical discussion about the Big Kahuna, if you get my drift. Unfortunately, the plot progression places increasing demands on the audience's suspension of disbelief. The opening scenes seem natural and unforced, but then give way to conversations which increasingly seem more and more unlikely - you could never imagine real people saying these things in the given situations. Again, maybe not out of place in a play, but somewhat too unrealistic for a movie. Facinelli's final actions, and the resulting confrontation with Spacey, bend credibility beyond the breaking point.

As the film concludes and the end credits begin to roll, the now-famous "Wear Sunscreen" column by Mary Schmich (but erroneously attributed to Kurt Vonnegut all over the internet) is read in voice-over. Probably not a good idea. If director John Swanbeck is hoping the speech will be new to the audience, he blunders on two fronts. First, the speech has been forwarded and re-forwarded in e-mail more often than the "Iloveyou" virus, and second, few viewers are going to appreciate his claiming it as his discovery when it's been around so long and everyone who surfs the web has encountered it on at least three separate occasions. If, on the other hand, Swanbeck expects audience members to be as familiar with it as many of them are, what's accomplished by tacking it onto the end of the movie? It inspires nothing but yawns from the viewers. My own suspicion is that he realizes the film's ending is weak (which it is - another artifact from its origins as a play), and is just trying to spice up the conclusion. Unsuccessfully.