This engaging and entertaining drama directed by Bruce Paltrow follows the adventures of three pairs of ordinary Americans as they make their way to a $5,000 Grand Prize Karaoke Contest in Omaha, Nebraska. All of them are seeking a magic moment on stage singing a three-minute twenty-second song. Karaoke offers an escape from their everyday lives, perhaps even the redemption that comes from connecting with their hearts.
Ricky Dean (Huey Lewis) is a professional singer who hustles locals at Karaoke bars, claiming to know nothing about singing, getting them to bet with him, and then taking the night's prize and extra bets by outperforming them in front of an audience. His scams are interrupted when he travels to Las Vegas for the funeral of a lady friend. There he meets Liv (Gwyneth Paltrow), a showgirl who turns out to be his daughter. Although she wants to bond with him, all he wants to do is escape.
Todd Woods (Paul Giamatti in a standout performance) is a traveling salesman who experiences burnout on the road. When he arrives home searching for a little sympathy and love, his wife (Kiersten Warren) and two children ignore him. In a fit of rebellion, Todd hits the road as a free man on a wild spree. He meets Reggie Kane (Andre Braugher), an escaped convict who has served time for, as he puts it, making "an error in judgment." They team up in a Karaoke contest and win with a duet of "Try a Little Tenderness." Fed up with the homogenization of American life, Todd resorts to behavior unbecoming a white middle-class college-educated male.
The final twosome consists of Suzi (Maria Bello), a fiercely determined waitress who is on her way to Hollywood to become a singing star, who gloms on to Billy (Scott Speedman), a self-confessed underachiever who drives a cab and has just discovered his girlfriend in bed with his partner. Suzi wants him to drive her to California and he acquiesces since his main mission in life after leaving seminary has been to help people out.
Part of the genuine pleasure in Duets is watching these six people experience the joy of singing in Karaoke bars. Equally notable is the clever screenplay by John Byrum (Inserts, Razor's Edge) that offers a scorching critique of the American way of life. The chief spokesperson for this is Todd whose belief in success and suburbia has been trashed. In one scene, he and Reggie lament that they have spent so much of their lives in small rooms: one is referring to his motel accommodations and the other to a prison cell. In another scene, Todd ponders the mad bankruptcy of capitalism; he's feeling guilty for having marketed a theme park that destroyed the nesting ground of some turtles — the turtles are now extinct because of a water slide! Another attack on the dishonesty of business is conveyed in Todd's repeated and unsuccessful efforts to get a series of hotels and motels to honor their promise to exchange a room for frequent flyer miles.
The most poignant moment in the drama comes when Reggie utters the words: "Our society lacks finesse." Yes, how true, and the same might be said for Hollywood where it seems the only way filmmakers can introduce dramatic tension to their storyline is to bring in a gun. The violence at the end of Duets is lamentable and totally unnecessary in a drama as buoyant as this one. Try to overlook it and savor the film's other wonderful aspects.