The Upstate Film Society opens its fall season at Carmike Cinema with this excellent adaptation of Roger Rueff's 1992 stage play Hospitality Suite. Set during one night at an industrial convention in Wichita, it consists almost entirely of dialogue between jaded salesmen Larry and Phil (Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito) and their fledgling coworker Bob (Peter Facinelli, who seems to have worked out a schedule with Tom Cruise for sharing a jawbone). But before you turn on the VCR and slip in that tape of Cheerleaders' Naughty Weekend, hear me out. Good theatre is about good dialogue and character development (it's surprising that not as many stage plays get turned into films as do novels, since they are less challenging than a prose narrative to make cinematic). And though the best-known plays about salesmen are notorious downers, this film has some of the most innocuously refreshing, uplifting dialogue, from some the best characters, you're likely to see on film this year.
Larry is fearful for his job but happy at home. Phil, struggling through a painful divorce and basic elemental mid-life reassessment, seems to care little about making sales quotas. But they're longtime friends cognizant of and comfortable with each other's foibles. Introduced to this dynamic, Bob, a recently married devout Baptist embarking on his first sales junket, is initially like the proverbial fly in the Jell-o. Under pressure of luring a particular potentially lucrative client - referred to as the Hawaiian deity of the title - to a shmoozefest in their hotel suite, they clash. And things turn out in wholly unexpected fashion: nobody gets pushed out a window, abducted by aliens, drawn into a lurid gay triangle, or hit in the head with a machete. Best of all, in a medium where Christians are usually depicted as exorcists, snake handlers, swindlers, or white supremacist militiamen, its refreshing to see - and I'm speaking as an atheist - a devout character not constricted by stereotype.
The Big Kahuna features the kind of conversation I wish real people could have at least every other time they get together - smart, meaningful, honest exchanges about life, the universe, and everything. Like most real people, Larry, Phil, and Bob are relatively understated characters who occasionally say something uncalled for, but seem to learn nearly as much from the rare heated exchange as from the more telling, frequent everyday banter. Uniformly exceptional performances -- Joe Reid, a friend on the UFS board, opined that this is the best role of Danny DeVito's movie career, and I come close to agreeing (he was wonderful in Living Out Loud, too) - lend welcome weight to such carefully written material.
Each entry in the Upstate Film Society series shows at the Carmike for just a week, so by the time you read this its run will have only a couple days left. But if you're looking for a departure from this summer's otherwise rather lackluster fare, I heartily recommend checking it out. A-
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