The Big Kahuna Review
By Joe Lozito
Faith of a Salesman
"The Big Kahuna" proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that David Mamet is a gifted writer. No, Mr. Mamet didn't create "Kahuna", but it does owe much of its style, inspiration and even character to him. In particular, to his treatment of the dog-eat-dog world of salesmen, "Glengarry Glen Ross". Kevin Spacey played a role in the wonderful film adaptation of that play and, likewise, he takes on a major role here in "Kahuna". But without Mr. Mamet's sharp dialogue and biting sarcasm, he's left with little to do.
"The Big Kahuna", written by Roger Rueff, is based on his play "Hospitality Suite" and unfortunately it is directed, by John Swanbeck, as though it were based on a play. The three salesmen Larry, Phil and Bob (Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli) rarely, if ever, leave the hotel room in which the action takes place. And, since a major running gag in the film is how small the room is (rather unimpressive for the big meeting at hand), the director has no where to go.
Mr. Spacey is capable of so much more in a role that watching "Kahuna" feels like watching a fine athlete stretch. Mr. DeVito is nicely subdued but too often he falls into his "sagely" voice and begins to sermonize. Meanwhile, Mr. Facinelli just seems out of his league as the oddly devout one of the bunch and the major cause of what conflict there is.
"Kahuna" raises a few interesting questions about faith and salesmen. But the salesman here are movie salesmen who always seem to have theories to soliloquize about how making a good sale is better than sex or some such nonsense. In the end, "Kahuna" comes to no compelling conclusion, except that it's hard to make three characters talk for 90 minutes and keep it interesting.
