Little Vegas

This moral melodrama is a work that a viewer may well wish to like more than it deserves. Although effectively photographed and designed, its plot line is, nonetheless, remote and unduly extended. Actor Perry Lang, in his only stint as a feature film director, also writes the screenplay that wants for more development. It is foremost an actor's film, as is made clear in the majority of the work's scenes. The film's unlikely protagonist, Carmine DiCarlo (Anthony John Denison), alcoholic gigolo, has been bequeathed $40,000 by his newly expired lover Martha (Anne Francis), but the latter's son Harvey (Bruce McGill) contests the will, hoping to use the moneys to aid in the launching of a new casino complex to attract desert tourists ("Little Vegas"), with assistance from a former Las Vegas hood, played by Jerry Stiller. Further complicating Carmine's situation are his teenage son of whom he has been awarded custody, a romantic connection with Martha's daughter Lexi (a fine turn from Catherine O'Hara), and his gangster brother Frank (Michael Nouri) who tries to persuade Carmine to return with him to his erstwhile home in New Jersey. Through all of this, Carmine manages to exhibit a certain joie de vivre for which he can not be despised. The film had but few theatre showings prior to being relegated to cable television, and home video sales. The piece offers a wide range of genres, while not quite settling upon being a comedy or romance, let alone a crime based thriller. This, then, fails to create an essential element: suspense, as many viewers simply will not care about whatever may happen to any of the storyline's principals. Lang, who plays an important role, does not manage to imbue his freshman effort as director with life (energy).

One of the biggest problems with this film is that the filmmakers couldn't decide what kind of a movie they wanted: light comedy/drama or light suspense. As a result, we are interrupted with constant genre switching and no real development of anything. You can watch the movie for so long, hoping that if you just endure it a little more, something will soon start to happen. And it does: the final credits roll. Despite a notable cast and the start of an interesting story of double-crossing conveniences, the movie becomes instantly forgettable.

Anthony Denison plays Carmine, a guy who left behind a garbage collection business in Jersey he ran with his relentless, mob-connected brother (Michael Nourri). Since then, he moved to an isolated trailer park in middle-of-nowhere Nevada where he lives with his teen son, Max. A grieving widow due to the recent death of his wife, he tries to figure out his next move and hopes to just start over. That's no easy task for Carmine because it seems, he's found himself in the middle of warring factions who determine the fate of the trailer park and Carmine himself.

His deceased wife's arrogant son, Harvey (Bruce McGill) wants to prevent Carmine from collecting an inheritance because he needs the cash to buy up the property which he wants to transform into a roadside attraction called 'Little Vegas.' In the meantime, park owner, Sam (Jerry Stiller) wants to keep Harvey from collecting anything, hoping that the option to get the whole park will expire and with it, save his own livelihood. And the only way this might be possible is to set up Harvey in a scam using Carmine's dangerous mob connection - his brother Frank.

It may seem like an intriguing tale of deceit, but the whole thing is too unbelievable because of the light-weight execution. Especially where most of the movie is interspersed with the love story between Carmine and his wife's estranged daughter, Lexie (Catherine O'Hara). Whether the movie should've succumbed to straight drama or comedy, writer-director Perry Lang (who has a role as Catherine O'Hara's cop boyfriend) should've picked one and ran with it.