DUETS

Peg Aloi

I for one had always wondered why a major-motion picture about karaoke has been so long coming. Then it hit me: they don't serve alcohol in movie theaters. Bruce Paltrow (whose last successful enterprise was TV's The White Shadow) directs this uneven but entertaining comedy about a gaggle of karaoke junkies and the inebriated types who applaud them.

Some of the songbirds are hustling their way, like Huey Lewis as a seasoned singer who calls it "karate-oke" and makes bets with unsuspecting locals. Maria Bello (Coyote Ugly) is a tough cookie who uses blow jobs for currency and hitches around sniffing after prize money. She gets a hunky, disillusioned cabbie (Scott Speedman) to drive her to California; en route they stop in Omaha for a shot at a $5000 karaoke purse. Others find karaoke (and the Omaha contest) by accident, like the yuppie salesman on a bender (the hilarious Paul Giamatti) who picks up hitchhiking convict Andre Braugher (who can sing like nobody's business). Add the director's daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow, as a waifish Vegas waitress with a fondness for Smokey Robinson (she does a surprisingly impressive version of "Bette Davis Eyes") and you get two hours of song stylings that will make you cheer and cringe in equal measure (kinda like being at an actual karaoke bar). By itself Andre Braugher's a cappella "Freebird" is well worth the price of admission.