“St. John of Las Vegas” Is Anti-climactic

Steve Buscemi plays John Alighieri, a compulsive gambler who fled Sin City’s temptations for a simpler life in New Mexico.  Alluding to a more prosperous existence through narration, John tells us that he works as a low-level insurance claim filer, adjusting to a life as an average Joe.  He lusts after his co-worker Jill (Sarah Silverman), a woman obsessed with smiley faces that has a secret kinky side.

One day John’s average life changes when he wanders into his boss Mr. Townsend’s office hoping for a raise.  Before he can ask for the extra pay, Mr. Townsend decides to give John an opportunity to prove himself for promotion.  Mr. Townsend assigns John to investigate a potential fraudulent car insurance claim made by a stripper near Las Vegas.  Miss Tasty D Light claims she was rear-ended and suffered serious injuries that have resulted in lost wages.

On this assignment, Mr. Townsend pairs John with Virgil (Romany Malco), a company super-star with an incredible record for sniffing out false claims.  Since the mission would bring him back to his old stomping ground, at first John is reluctant to accept the mission but he decides to go with the flow and take the case with the promise of more money.

Inspired with a new sense of confidence, John makes a move on Jill and finds her quite receptive to his advances.  He does not have time to bask in his glory however, as he is quickly whisked away by Virgil to begin their investigation.  At first Virgil seems apprehensive about showing John the ropes, speaking very little to him and offering almost no guidance.  He comes off comically wacky;  more interested in sleeping in his car than a hotel to save money, and very cryptic about his methods.

One particularly hilarious scene in the film comes when Virgil and John visit the strip club Miss Tasty D Light works for, hoping to disprove her injuries by soliciting a lap dance from her.  Without giving away spoilers, John definitely gets quite a show.

As a character John starts to develop into a stronger person over the course of the film.  Even though he still can’t help his addiction to gambling, John develops a newfound confidence as he learns he can talk people into helping him in his investigation, and to use his wits to get out of some tricky situations.

The overarching story seems to be building up to some kind of life altering self-realization or dramatic event taking place in Las Vegas for Buscemi’s character John Alighieri.  He experiences some random dream sequences that go unexplained, and his moments gambling end quickly with no money won and no fanfare to encourage his habit.  I expected a huge loss that would teach him a lesson or an explanation of his dreams as something poignant in his life, however neither of these moments came and as a result the entire film seemed very anti-climactic.

Buscemi and Romany Malco make a hilarious team, as Malco’s character, a reluctant mentor, shows Buscemi the ropes in the fraud detection game.  Malco gives Virgil a certain awkward quiet about him that lasts for a long time, clearly making John uncomfortable and uneasy asking questions.  Sarah Silverman is also fantastic, as the kooky smiley-face obsessed girl of Buscemi’s dreams.  When she’s quick to tell John that she loves him, you can’t help but laugh and wonder if she’s just really ditzy or she does care about him.  It is the comedic presence of the characters in this film that make up for the anti-climactic story and boosts its rating in my book.

My grade: B-