The Big Kahuna

Released 1999
Stars Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, Peter Facinelli
Directed by John Swanbeck
Reviewed April 29, 2002

"The Big Kahuna" is about a trio of industrial lubricant salesmen at a convention in Wichita. It's based on a play, and 99% of the film is confined to one hotel room. Sometimes a one-set film can be claustrophobic, but I don't think it matters when there's good dialogue. It definitely doesn't matter here, because this film is full of good dialogue. The conversation sounds too sharp for actual people at times, but it doesn't sound phony like David Mamet's work. I enjoy Mamet, but I always feel his writing sounds unnatural. The first salesman of the trio is Phil (Danny DeVito), who has passed 50 and knows he's past his peak. The second is Larry (Kevin Spacey), who's driven and cynical, and the last is Bob. Bob is the young pup, who's wide-eyed and deeply religious. The movie starts with Bob asking Phil if he has character in his face. Of course, he's too young for that, and he wonders if he'll have it at Phil's age. Then Larry bursts onto the scene full of nervous energy and angry bluster.

The goal of the convention is to sign a new account, which would become their biggest account. The company's CEO is the "Big Kahuna." Whether they land him or not is irrelevant, because the movie is deeper than that. Its main agenda is to draw a parallel between religious evangelists and business salesmen. The religious evangelists aren't television evangelists, but religious people who feel the need to spread the word of Jesus Christ and convert others. Without ever saying so, it argues that evangelists like Bob are just salesmen selling a product. Think about it. Salesmen work for a company, which has indoctrinated them in their product and given them both a pitch and a mission. Evangelists are really no different. They have been indoctrinated into a belief system, and they have a mission to convert people. Religion is a funny thing, because everyone smugly believes their religion is correct. But what do people know about religion? They know what they were taught as children by their family and church. Those people learned from their family and church, etc. Eventually it traces back many centuries to key people like Jesus or Buddha, who actually had something to say, but everyone else simply recites what they've been taught. The thing that bothers me about evangelistic people is they have no thought process of their own. They simply recite scripture and get in people's faces. Bob is exactly like that. He's smug in his self-image of a religiously moral person, and he feels the most important thing in life is to preach the gospel. That would be all fine and good if he were a preacher, but he's an industrial lubricant salesman.

I enjoyed everything in this film, but my very favorite moments were at the end when both Larry and Phil dress down Bob. Larry does it out of anger, and Phil does it from a fatherly perspective that's tinged with disgust. Both are very effective and well warranted. Phil's is the most interesting, because he comes back to the topic of character. He tells Bob that character is something you achieve from the regrets which accumulate throughout your life. You carry them with you, and they weigh on your soul. It's the regrets that give you character. I believe this is true to an extent, but only if you learn something from those regrets. Of course, it's true from Phil's perspective at his point in life. He's full of regrets and knows that he's worked for thirty years but hasn't accomplished anything. He had always thought he would make a difference with his life, but he's come to the realization it's too late. That's a scary feeling. We have to try to recognize the regrets as they occur, so we can try to change them before it's too late. If we can't do that, we should at least learn a lesson from them so we can avoid making similar mistakes again. A person who truly has character, however, will also try to help those around him without preaching. The problem with Bob is he's too young to have true regrets, and he has no business preaching to people twice his age about their lives.

This film reminded me of my aunt Pat and Uncle Vic, who are very religious. Their entire lives revolve around religion, and they're the most generous and loving people I know. The interesting thing about them is they don't practice what they preach. They can't, because they don't preach. Instead they're regular church-goers who lead by example and do everything they can to help people in need. When I was 17 my mother was murdered. I never discuss this with anyone, so a note to my friends who read this--please don't mention it to me... Shortly after this happened, Pat and Vic came to my house to talk to me. They came to talk about God and how He has a plan for us, and how this was part of His plan, etc. I'm not a religious person, but we discussed religion for a while and how it related to their lives. It was the only time they ever preached to me, and I ended up politely saying thanks for coming but it wasn't the message I needed. They accepted that and never mentioned it again. I wanted to tell this story, because it underlines the difference between an evangelist like Bob and religious people like my aunt and uncle. The difference is in motive. Bob's motive was to sell the product (Jesus) and close the deal (convert). Pat and Vic's motive was to help someone in their darkest hour. I'll always love them for that.

Reviewed by Bill Alward Home
 

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