CineVegas Review: ‘Saint John of Las Vegas’

Lady luck is a fickle woman. She can be the most splendid, incredibly beautiful apparition you may ever behold. Then again, she can also be a cold, cold heartless wench without mercy. For John, played by Steve Buscemi, she’s mostly the later, relentlessly teasing John with plenty of luck, just not the right kind. John used to be a big shot, a high roller in Las Vegas. Everyone knew his name and they knew his game, but that’s before his luck changed.

First-time director Hue Rhodes scores a winner right out of the gate with this comedy about John, an average middle-aged Joe who had his time of glory on the strip but now settles for the simple life of a quaint little house in a gated community of Albuquerque, New Mexico. John works in a cubicle, filing insurance claims for his arrogant boss Mr. Townsend, played by character actor Peter Dinklage.

The only really positive thing John has in his day is being cubicle neighbor to Jill, played by Sarah Silverman, an obsessively, perhaps even psychotically nice woman who is literally fixated on those annoying yellow smiley faces. Her cubicle is covered with them, she wears them and even paints them on her fingernails. Silverman somehow manages to be both cute and a little scary at the same time. Sort of in that, she’s such a nice girl she may actually be able to rip your head off if you get out of line, sort of way.

John is about to get a raise, or so he thinks, as he meets with his boss and finds himself thrown into learning the ropes of becoming a fraudulent claims investigator. Mr. Townsend send him out on a job with his seasoned investigator Virgil, played by Romany Malco (Weeds, 40-Year Old Virgin),   and the two never quite hit it off. Virgil doesn’t like John and John doesn’t trust Virgil. The awkward relationship at play here is the focus for most of the movie, but the underlying story involves John’s gambling addiction which permeates every aspect of his life and career.

‘Saint John of Las Vegas’ is filled with bizarre characters and uncanny situations, including a love triangle involving John, Jill and Mr. Townsend that plays out brilliantly. Danny Trejo and Tim Blake Nelson appear in cameo roles that, despite their short time on screen, add some great color to the story. As always, Dinklage is a hit with the audience and injects his welcome sense of sarcastic humor into the mix that plays well against Buscemi’s portrayal of the neurotic man who once lived in Vegas.

Amidst the most bizarre scenarios in the film include the stripper named Tasty Delight who has filed the claim Virgil and John are investigating, whereas she is confined to a wheelchair while still working as a waitress. One of my favorite scenes involves Virgil and John visiting Smitty the Fire Lord (John Cho) at a circus side show attraction. Smitty the Fire Lord, who doubles as a tow truck operator to supplement his income, is questioned in connection to the fraud investigation, but the scene plays out comically as his fire suit is malfunctioning, producing one perfectly constructed scene between Cho and Buscemi.

Watching Steve Buscemi perform is a joy, as always, and Sarah Silverman delivers with her trademark style of humor (in reverse) to great effect. Generally speaking, ‘Saint John of Las Vegas’ has few flaws. The only thing about the movie I found difficult to embrace was John’s dream sequences, which were fine in and of themselves, but their relative place within the film was lost on me.

Ultimately, the movie is about whether John will ever reacquire his gambling mojo, regain his good luck or just plain find some sort of happiness in his life. ‘Saint John of Las Vegas’ has een touted as being inspired by Dante’s Inferno, and I suppose some of that can be seen in the movie, but for me it’s all about one man’s struggle to figure out what what went wrong in life, attempting to recover some of his dignity and in the process, ends up finding something much more simple and fulfilling to live for.