Grade: B

Verdict: See it for the acting.

Details: Starring Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Bob Facinelli. Directed by John Swanbeck. Rated R for profanity. 1 hour, 31 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: For Jean-Paul Sartre, hell was other people. For the trio of salesmen who are the focus of "The Big Kahuna," hell is being on the road in a hospitality suite in Wichita, Kan., stuck with a plate of limp hors d'oeuvres and an important client to snag (i.e., the big kahuna.)

Based on Roger Rueff's 1992 play "Hospitality Suite" and directed by John Swanbeck, the film could be subtitled "The Near-Death Experiences of a Salesman." Larry (Kevin Spacey), Phil (Danny DeVito) and Bob (Peter Facinelli) are in the industrial lubricant business. Phil, at 52, is resigned and deflated, a man on automatic. Twentysomething Bob is new and nervous, but grounded by a deep religious faith that keeps him from being a pushover.

Larry is, well, Kevin Spacey with all burners on and a lot of very sharp dialogue. A dyspeptic, less dimensional cousin to Spacey's Oscar-winning suburbanite in "American Beauty," Larry is all snide attitude and wired verborrhea. He and Phil bicker like an old married couple. Phil knows Larry is going to mouth off about everything from the cramped, sterile quarters to the cruddy crudites they're going to serve in their washout of a hotel hospitality suite. But Larry shakes up Bob in a nanosecond with his withering abuse. His excuse? "The carrot sticks went to my head."

"The Big Kahuna"--the play's name is so much better--immediately conjures up comparisons to David Mamet. Sort of Mamet Lite. Plus, its stage origins glow like Tony Curtis' teeth in a 1950s swashbuckler. But what pleasure there is in the acting. Not so much newcomer Facinelli; he's out of his league, as 90 percent of today's actors would be, and his role is the most facile of the three. It's as if the playwright wanted to envision a character with deep religious convictions but couldn't quite commit to it in an intriguing way.

But Spacey and DeVito are at the top of their game. OK, Spacey's done this bit before. But he does it so darn well. Just listening to his bile is a guilty pleasure. Further, look closer, as "American Beauty" suggests, and you discover that underneath the showy cynic is a total company man who cares more about doing a good job than anyone else in the room.

As for DeVito, ever since the little-seen "Living Out Loud," he's been taking unexpected risks, digging deeper into character roles. His Phil is a marvel of emotional burnout, a walking midlife crisis staring at a dead-end career and a failed marriage. Yet, somehow, he keeps on going. He's Willy Loman, with a sigh and a shoeshine. And in his sly, quiet way, he almost steals the movie.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service