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SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS Send This Review to a Friend
Steve Buscemi is the sort of actor who is always interesting to watch, and in some ways that is true even in this meandering, modest film of little consequence. Written and directed by Hue Rhodes, “Saint John of Las Vegas” presents Buscemi as John, a compulsive gambler on a small scale who tries to stay away from Vegas. He gets a job with an auto insurance company in Albuquerque. Scratch-off lotto tickets remain his vice.
John is an ineffectual type who tries to imagine climbing the ladder of success. His arrogant boss Townsend, played by Peter Dinklage, takes pleasure in manipulating his employees, and dangles a promotion before John by assigning him to fraud investigation. Townsend pairs him with veteran investigator Virgil (Romany Malco), a secretive type who calls the shots and, as we learn, has his own agenda.
Where is John sent? Back toward Vegas, as he and Virgil are assigned to try to prove that a stripper’s auto accident claim is fraudulent. John encounters the stripper in a wheelchair in a seedy joint, and she performs what passes as a lap dance. That is but one of the John’s adventures along the way, with various oddballs encountered.
Sarah Silverman plays Jill, an employee in the firm, and she becomes sweet on John after her hanky-panky with the boss, and the relationship sets John on the road to true success in life. As you may have gathered by now, all of this doesn’t amount to very much in the way of a movie. An Indie Vest Pictures release.
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