St. John of Las Vegas’ opening scene features Steve Buscemi under the unflattering glare of a convenience store’s fluorescent lights. He’s bug-eyed and scrawny-necked; his teeth are crooked and discolored as he flashes the attractive clerk a nervous smile. In his trademark high-pitched, exasperated tone, he philosophizes on life while buying a lottery ticket. This is classic Buscemi, as his fans will be pleased to see him. Unfortunately, Buscemi’s captivatingly goofy mug and his personality quirks are the only things at all enjoyable about St. John of Las Vegas.
The film takes a dive after the opening sequence, when the filmmakers make the mistake of trying to disguise their exploitation of Buscemi’s trademark persona as a respectable film. As if this weren’t blasphemous enough, the plot is loosely based on Dante’s Inferno. Buscemi plays John Alligheri, an ex-gambler disenchanted with life after a spell of bad luck. Cue Virgil (Malco) in the form of a claims investigator accompanying Buscemi on a new business venture that leads them to hell, which, understandably, is Las Vegas. While travelling, John reflects on his life and reaches the same epiphany as his namesake.
Within the context of this film, however, this epiphany loses its power. This is partly because John’s travels don’t seem so much to spawn moments of great profundity as they do encounters with bizarre characters, and partly because John’s supposed inspiration, his girlfriend, Jill (Silverman), is an insufferably cartoonish concoction obsessed with yellow smiley-faces.
The film ends abruptly, leaving us little time to process what we have just seen. But not to fear, as St. John of Las Vegas is a shallow film of minimal depth. It lazily derives its plot from a classical text and incorporates into it a set of quirky stock characters, all set up against an actor with an established presence and following. As the only redeeming force in this film, Buscemi’s performance will satisfy his fans. After all, Steve Buscemi always plays a great Steve Buscemi — at least the filmmakers seem to realize this.
1 Star
Directed By: Hue Rhodes
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Romany Malco, Sarah Silverman
Rated R, 85 min
