Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Better Late Then Never

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

A movie with both strengths and weaknesses. The story has three salesmen -- or marketers as they like to call themselves -- holed up in a hotel room waiting and hoping for the Big Kahuna, the jackpot client, to show up at their party.Among the strengths, the sterling cast -- Kevin Spacey as the wisecracking but perceptive pusher; Danny DeVito as the recently divorced, troubled friend; and Peter Facinelli as the morally pure Baptist acolyte. That's about the whole cast, and there's basically one setting -- that arid hotel room -- because this play hasn't really been opened up much.The actors -- I don't know how to put this -- but they LOOK right for their parts. Kevin Spacey as they guy who debases most others, and Facinelli as the plain-faced innocent are especially good. Danny DeVito may be the weakest of the trio, if only because he never really LOOKS depressed. Can you imagine a suicidally melancholic Danny DeVito? Another strength is in the lines written for Spacey's character. His dialog varies from resignation to something that turns logic into an Escher drawing or a Mobius strip, in which everything seems to lead back to where it began. Some are hilarious.Alas, a play or movie has to be ABOUT something. The diverse salesmen as a way of exploring character is so old that it MUST be trustworthy, from the Maysles brothers' "Salesman", to "Tin Men" and "Glen Gary Glen Ross." Yet, we don't know what these guys are supposed to be selling, some kind of lubricant, but that's all.And there's a religious element of the kind that's best left masked by events. Not only does Facinelli continually reveal his spiritual purity but Danny DeVito, unprovoked, spins a long and improbable story of a dream he had about rescuing God who was hiding in a closet after some calamity. I said it was "improbable" only because my own dreams are entirely lacking in the kind of clarity, unity, and organization that DeVito's dream had. Also, while I'm at it, is it okay if I register a minor complaint to whoever is in charge of the lighting that I'm getting pretty fed up with the overuse of burnt orange? And they're too dark too. And can I please have more women and fewer ogres? When the characters discuss God and religion and all that, it sounds like a couple of college sophomores earnestly schmoozing over some weed. It all seems like an attempt to elevate the story to a plane on which it simply doesn't belong.The strengths outpace the weaknesses by a head.

As always, I review a movie on its own premise. Is this the most interesting point in the lives of these people? Probably not. Is it the most interesting point for the viewer? Depending on your proclivities, maybe not. But in terms on chemistry, interaction and development, for me, this is circling perfection.It's hard how to describe this film. An ensemble of three manages to keep your attention for 90 minutes, enduring an existence seemingly entirely focused around industrial lubricants. You would think that was impossible, till you see DeVito dance character-circles around a heavy weight like Kevin Spacy, and see relative new-comer Peter Facinelli go toe-to-toe with both of them, like it was the easiest thing in the world. This is a showcase of acting ability, more than anything else. This is skill versus the emptiness of the premise. Danny DeVito, Kevin Spacey and Peter Facinelli puts in mind- and trouser-blowingly good performances, that will make any actor think twice before they take on this script (it being based on Hospitality Suite, by Roger Rueff).And speaking of which, you will not often see Kevin Spacey be out- acted by anyone, but DeVito puts in a performance that would shake gods to their foundations (fittingly, as you may come to understand). The emotions and timing at display here, are far, far beyond what you might expect from a small movie - but Spaceys production undoubtedly allowed for just that (including his own). As a story-teller, I often view a scene or two from this, at random, just to soak in a bit of the glorious performances, and brilliant matter-of-factness there seems to be to this entire, spectacular celebration of an art form.

Suppose a screenwriter is pitching this to a studio exec:"Well, it's about 3 salesmen for an industrial lubricant company, in Wichita for a trade show. 2 of them are middle-aged, rather jaded about their occupation and life in general. The third is a new guy, recently married and graduated from college, who is also a devout Christian. Virtually everything takes place in a hotel hospitality suite they rented to entertain clients, specifically to meet 1 important client ("The Big Kahuna") who, if they could secure his business, could turn their struggling company around. The 3 of them discuss what our purpose is in this life and what it all means"Exec: "So do they have this drunken orgy with strippers and get the young guy loaded and caught in a compromising position with a hooker, just when his newlywed wife arrives, having decided to surprise him on his first business trip?""No. It's just the three of them, talking in hospitality suite"Exec: "Well, how about going another direction. Islamic terrorists seize the hotel and will blow it and everyone in the place to smithereens by midnight, unless $100 million dollars is wired to an off-shore account. The mild-mannered Christian turns out to be an ex-Navy seal who thwarts the plot and kills all the terrorists""Uh, no. They just talk, although the Christian guy does shove one of them into a food tray."Kind of hard to see how this got made, but if you get a pair of actors like Spacey and DeVito for the 2/3 of the cast, maybe you can sell it. The smartest thing writer Roger Rueff and director John Swanbeck did was keeping this to 90 minutes, although it probably could have easily just been a 1hour drama. As a person in marketing and sales I found a lot of this very interesting and perceptive. I can also see how many could find this whole thing tiresome and boring.

If we paused for a moment, who would we see? The big man on campus, or a man questioning life? We are all actors in a play, and we know our roles well. But do we want more? Do we wonder if we are living the life that we are supposed to be living? Faith is the guiding light to keep us strong, but dreams leave us dreaming, lost to the confines of this real world. Do we know who we are, and is this all that we would become? If we could let go, accept, would we then be free, free to be who we were meant to be, but then what would wait for us at the end of the road? Life is a funny thing, one that keeps us on our toes, but the one lesson that it will always teach us is never to take things for granted. Life is always changing, and time is pushing us along. But as time marches on, where we were, the mistakes we've made are the threads intertwining, weaving into characterization, and becoming the fabric of our definition, and we are more than we thought, exceeding limitations, and discovering new heights, greater dreams, and a breath of destiny.