![]() ![]() Silverman's Jill is part temptress, part saint. Malco's Virgil, now we think of it, is a guide who seems to have been this way before. Buscemi is an apologetic loser who fled Vegas after losing his net worth, and now unwisely returns. There's also this dilemma: Once you arrive in the Ninth Circle of Hell, what do you do for an encore? But if, like most people, your command of the Inferno is shaky, the film might seem disjointed and pointless. If you recall Dante very well, or jot some reminders on your palm with a ballpoint, you can possibly follow the movie in this way. Townsend (Dinklage), who is their boss at the insurance company. The Ninth Circle, and the last, Treason Against God - or, in this case, Mr. John discovers the nature of a scheme to defraud the insurance company. The lot is guarded with a savage dog, no doubt based on Cerberus, the watchdog of hell. In a used-car lot, they are led into a trap, and John, knocked senseless, barely escapes with his life. Virgil seems not to take the insurance company seriously. They argue with a cop, and arrive at a senseless flaming gateway in the desert, guarded by Tom Blake Nelson and other naked men with guns. John dreams of winning the lottery and spends every dollar on scratch cards. In this circle are rain and hail, which the two drive through. It's her crash the insurance company doesn't want to pay the claim on. Later, in a lap dance bar, he undergoes but resists temptation from a stripper ( Emmanuelle Chriqui), who sprained her neck in a car crash but tries to give him a lap dance from her wheelchair. He lusts for Jill (Silverman), a chirpy co-worker who labors in the next cubicle. People in Limbo have trouble controlling their weaknesses. In the movie, that would be the main office of the insurance company. In the movie, Steve Buscemi plays John Alighieri, an insurance claims adjuster who is assigned a partner named Virgil ( Romany Malco) and sets off on a journey through the desert to Las Vegas (hell). We all recall that Dante's Inferno told the story of a journey into hell, with the poet Virgil as the tour guide. ![]() That name might not ring a bell with a lot of moviegoers and had better not be a question on the Tea Baggers' literacy test. The flaming also seems to fit into the over-all symbolism of "Saint John." The script, we learn, was written by the director Hue Rhodes, based on the epic poem by Dante Alighieri. This one just can't be enjoyed though too bad.Well, not quite. ![]() I always like to enjoy an Independent film that nobody else likes or has seen. The premise could have been cool had it actually turned into a real movie, but it never does. It seems to me like the writer and director was trying to be too original. Buscemi and Malco weren't bad, they just had nothing to work with. After a couple of scenes though, everything else are just throw away scenes that don't work. Saint John of Las Vegas had some pretty bizarre scenes that were okay like the discussion with a carnival performer who kept bursting into flames. I really have no idea what this movie was trying to accomplish or what it was trying to be. The movie could never really pull itself together though. I was intrigues by this movie because it had Steve Buscemi in the leading role and Romany Malco, who I really liked in Weeds. If you want a low budget independent movie dealing with Vegas, check out "The Cooler" instead. Watch for the great cast, but don't expect a great movie to match. But, it feels like this movie needed more, and given more it could have been a great movie. The movie runs at 85 minutes, which is good as it short and paced good. The story is interesting, but it feels like it's missing quite a bit. Peter Dinklage, Sarah Silverman, and Romney Malco all do great with the little their given. He's usually great, and here he is his usual awesome self. Buscemi does a fantastic job with such a subpar movie. The accident took place outside of Vegas, and his old gambling addiction comes back and he's once again at the mercy of temptation. One day he gets offered a chance to move up by helping with the investigation of an accident and trying to prove it's fraudulent. He's moved to Albuquerque and works for an auto insurance company. After a long string of bad luck gambling in his hometown of Las Vegas, John(Steve Buscemi) decides to try to live a normal life. ![]()
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