Kahuna Movie Reviews

Related Subjects: Games
Family movie reviews for "Kahuna" sorted by average review score:
The Big Kahuna
Released in DVD by Universal Studios (29 August, 2000)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: John Swanbeck
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, and Peter Facinelli
Two salesmen (Danny DeVito and Oscar winner Kevin Spacey) and a company researcher (Peter Facinelli) set up shop in a hotel suite in Wichita, Kansas, on a business trip. They hope to sell their particular brand of industrial lubricants to the elusive Mr. Fuller. Spacey and DeVito are seasoned pros, while Facinelli is excited about his first business trip. DeVito is going through some kind of mid-life crisis; Spacey is all about the sale and little else; and the new kid is naive, moral, and extremely religious. Once the characters are established, nothing much happens. They talk. They prepare for their sales party, and they talk. The event starts, but the movie quickly cuts to the mess in the room afterward so they can talk about what happened during the party. Even when Facinelli is given an invite to hang out with Mr. Fuller at a private party, the camera stays behind in the hotel room to listen to Spacey and DeVito talk. Talk talk talk. Based on the play by Roger Rueff, who also wrote the screenplay, The Big Kahuna never really feels like a movie, probably because it's all talk and no story, set in a hospitality suite that increasingly feels like a prison. --Andy Spletzer
Average review score:

nice community theater piece, but not a movie
A small, hemmed in, cramped film in almost all respects 'The Big Kahuna' is based on the play 'Hospitality Suite' and its small town theater feel shows through. Set almost entirely in a hospitality suite at an industrial lubricants convention, 'Kahuna' feels unintentionally claustrophobic and the stilted dialogue that comes out of every character's mouth doesn't help things either. The film wavers between dull and cliche and no amount of overacting from a tedious Spacey is going to save us.

When the examination of the human condition through the lens of a sales convention has already been done before (and better) in works like 'Death of a Salesman' and 'Glengarry, Glen Ross', what does 'Kahuna' offer us? Lots of talking and talking. Two or three people in a room, one having a deeply personal crisis, another a deeply religious one and all three of them revealing themselves in a stream-of-consciousness yielding such lines as, "Don't you quote scripture to me, Bob!" and "Larry, do you love me?" Spacey spends the first hour of the film overacting with the same kind of callousness he brings to Larry's character that he brought to 'Swimming with Sharks'. Then, suddenly, as the long night drags on, Larry softens up a bit extending himself emotionally to a recently divorced Phil (DeVito). DeVito spends a lot of time saying, "We'll be all right," and staring pensively off into space or letting his eyes get all dewy with emotion (about what? His divorce? His desire to get out of the sales business? Who cares?)

Then we have Bob, the clean-cut devout Christian who cannot seem to talk to anyone without bringing God into the conversation. All fine and good, but it becomes clear very quickly that Bob has chosen the wrong profession when he speaks to the elusive Kahuna of the title on two separate occaisions and bends the guy's ear about Jesus both times when he's really there to land a lubricant contract. "But I think that's important!" Bob shouts at Larry. I kept thinking, 'Um, yeah sure it is. Follow your heart. Go be an evangelist. Knock yourself out kid. Just get out of this movie because I don't see the point of your being here.' Plus, I know enough devout Christians who are capable of separating their work and their God. Bob, on the other hand, strikes me as a useless simpleton. Maybe the director was trying to say something about religion or morality or purpose in life, but all I got out of it was the equivalent of cienematic tofu.

These guys got stiffed with a lousy script.

3 people in a room can get a little bit boring
with a movie only based on 3 people in a room it can get boring but the 3 leads, especially Spacey give grand acting performances. DeVito is calm threw out most of the movie and he does his character good. also int he mix is a young actor named Peter Facinelli(Cant Hardly Wait, Dancer,Texas Pop 81., Supernova) who's character involves a lot of religious beliefs. its about them trying to sell lubricants and they need to give a big corpurit person their product.

Worth a Dekho (Watch)
I have watched this movie on VHS and the dialogues are truly brilliant.
The acting and also the editing (flow) of the movie is excellent.
It is thought provoking and shows that life is not about being judgemental and critical but living and helping others as best as you can - two people can be right in their own ways. We do not perceive things as they are, but as we are.
The moral conclusion of the movie is left to the viewer to decide.
All the three actors come out as very human.
THIS UNCONVENTIONAL MOVIE GOES TO SHOW THAT BRILLIANT FILMS CAN ALSO BE MADE WITH A SMALL BUDGET, HIGHLIGHTING ENDANGERED HUMAN VALUES AND NON-EXISTENCE OF SPECIAL EFFECTS.

The Big Kahuna
Released in DVD by Lions Gate Home Ente (17 June, 2003)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: John Swanbeck
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, and Peter Facinelli
Two salesmen (Danny DeVito and Oscar winner Kevin Spacey) and a company researcher (Peter Facinelli) set up shop in a hotel suite in Wichita, Kansas, on a business trip. They hope to sell their particular brand of industrial lubricants to the elusive Mr. Fuller. Spacey and DeVito are seasoned pros, while Facinelli is excited about his first business trip. DeVito is going through some kind of mid-life crisis; Spacey is all about the sale and little else; and the new kid is naive, moral, and extremely religious. Once the characters are established, nothing much happens. They talk. They prepare for their sales party, and they talk. The event starts, but the movie quickly cuts to the mess in the room afterward so they can talk about what happened during the party. Even when Facinelli is given an invite to hang out with Mr. Fuller at a private party, the camera stays behind in the hotel room to listen to Spacey and DeVito talk. Talk talk talk. Based on the play by Roger Rueff, who also wrote the screenplay, The Big Kahuna never really feels like a movie, probably because it's all talk and no story, set in a hospitality suite that increasingly feels like a prison. --Andy Spletzer
Average review score:

nice community theater piece, but not a movie
A small, hemmed in, cramped film in almost all respects 'The Big Kahuna' is based on the play 'Hospitality Suite' and its small town theater feel shows through. Set almost entirely in a hospitality suite at an industrial lubricants convention, 'Kahuna' feels unintentionally claustrophobic and the stilted dialogue that comes out of every character's mouth doesn't help things either. The film wavers between dull and cliche and no amount of overacting from a tedious Spacey is going to save us.

When the examination of the human condition through the lens of a sales convention has already been done before (and better) in works like 'Death of a Salesman' and 'Glengarry, Glen Ross', what does 'Kahuna' offer us? Lots of talking and talking. Two or three people in a room, one having a deeply personal crisis, another a deeply religious one and all three of them revealing themselves in a stream-of-consciousness yielding such lines as, "Don't you quote scripture to me, Bob!" and "Larry, do you love me?" Spacey spends the first hour of the film overacting with the same kind of callousness he brings to Larry's character that he brought to 'Swimming with Sharks'. Then, suddenly, as the long night drags on, Larry softens up a bit extending himself emotionally to a recently divorced Phil (DeVito). DeVito spends a lot of time saying, "We'll be all right," and staring pensively off into space or letting his eyes get all dewy with emotion (about what? His divorce? His desire to get out of the sales business? Who cares?)

Then we have Bob, the clean-cut devout Christian who cannot seem to talk to anyone without bringing God into the conversation. All fine and good, but it becomes clear very quickly that Bob has chosen the wrong profession when he speaks to the elusive Kahuna of the title on two separate occaisions and bends the guy's ear about Jesus both times when he's really there to land a lubricant contract. "But I think that's important!" Bob shouts at Larry. I kept thinking, 'Um, yeah sure it is. Follow your heart. Go be an evangelist. Knock yourself out kid. Just get out of this movie because I don't see the point of your being here.' Plus, I know enough devout Christians who are capable of separating their work and their God. Bob, on the other hand, strikes me as a useless simpleton. Maybe the director was trying to say something about religion or morality or purpose in life, but all I got out of it was the equivalent of cienematic tofu.

These guys got stiffed with a lousy script.

3 people in a room can get a little bit boring
with a movie only based on 3 people in a room it can get boring but the 3 leads, especially Spacey give grand acting performances. DeVito is calm threw out most of the movie and he does his character good. also int he mix is a young actor named Peter Facinelli(Cant Hardly Wait, Dancer,Texas Pop 81., Supernova) who's character involves a lot of religious beliefs. its about them trying to sell lubricants and they need to give a big corpurit person their product.

Worth a Dekho (Watch)
I have watched this movie on VHS and the dialogues are truly brilliant.
The acting and also the editing (flow) of the movie is excellent.
It is thought provoking and shows that life is not about being judgemental and critical but living and helping others as best as you can - two people can be right in their own ways. We do not perceive things as they are, but as we are.
The moral conclusion of the movie is left to the viewer to decide.
All the three actors come out as very human.
THIS UNCONVENTIONAL MOVIE GOES TO SHOW THAT BRILLIANT FILMS CAN ALSO BE MADE WITH A SMALL BUDGET, HIGHLIGHTING ENDANGERED HUMAN VALUES AND NON-EXISTENCE OF SPECIAL EFFECTS.

Related Subjects: Games