Four years ago Gwyneth Paltrow took a part in a small movie called Sydney whose title was later changed for the U.S. release to Hard Eight. Not only was this a relative change in direction towards the starring role for Gwyneth, but it was also the first major directing job for Paul Thomas Anderson - who then went on to direct such movies as Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Now Gwyneth is being directed by her dad in his 2nd movie direction role and while the movie tries to be more of a Magnolia than an original movie, Gwyneth almost saves it despite the unbelievable plot, but alas, some things were just not meant to be.

It all starts Robert Altman style with three different pairs of strangers who all have one thing in common - karaoke - yes, karaoke. I never thought I'd have to see a movie based on karaoke, but it's been made and unfortunately karaoke isn't the most enthralling subject. These three pairs of strangers all win local karaoke contests and are entered into the national championships - I guess they exist somewhere - with a grand prize of $5000... There's probably a couple of ways I could go about this review - one, expain the plights of the 3 pairs and their stories or two, cut to the chase and explain what was wrong. I think I'll opt for the second and shorter of the two.

I had high hopes going into Duets, thinking that it would be a cohesive, well-acted, well-written movie that could somehow portray karaoke in a positive light. But unfortunately, Duets falls short in almost every one of the above traits. While the acting isn't necessarily horrible, it isn't the best of the year for sure. Gwyneth does a great job with the material she's presented with and Huey Lewis isn't half bad himself, but other actors (no names) needed to step it up a notch if this movie were to go anywhere. The script, on the other hand, had absolutely no high points. It is unbelievable, hard to follow at times, and tries a little too hard to be stylish and new when all it is is a tired plot structure with tired dialogue and acting.

While the soundtrack has it's high points and it was a treat to see and hear Gwyneth sing along-side Huey Lewis, there's really nothing that could have saved Duets apart from a shelving.

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Rated: R - http://www.outermost.net/mra/images/duets.gif
Runtime: 112 minutes
Talk back in the discussion boards!