DUETS

Two years ago, in the comedy My Best Friend's Wedding, Cameron Diaz-playing the role of Julia Roberts' rival-was handed a karaoke-style microphone and sang a woefully off-key song to a bemused club audience. For many filmgoers, Diaz's send-up of the karaoke phenomenon was the highlight of the movie. Now, perhaps regrettably, we have Duets, an entire film that positively wallows in karaoke performances, while spinning out a predictable variety of plots and subplots against the backdrop of ongoing road-movie settings.

Fusing karaoke contests and the genre of the road movie might strike filmgoers as something of a cinematic shotgun wedding, while others might consider it an abundance of riches. Certainly, screenwriter John Byrum-whose credits include the semi-notorious Inserts and the unfortunate remake of The Razor' Edge, starring Bill Murray-and director Bruce Paltrow, Gwyneth's father, would seem to be in the latter camp. The trouble is that road movies are generally about speed, and karaoke films-not that they actually constitute a genre-are usually about barflies and off-key singers.

While Duets has no shortage of lost souls, boozehounds and would-be crooners, director Paltrow seems more interested in fusing his on-the-road characters with his karaoke aficionados. It's a conceit that doesn't always make for a smooth fit. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Liv, a Las Vegas showgirl who just happens to run into her deadbeat father (Huey Lewis) on the karaoke circuit, while escaped convict Reggie (Andre Braugher) finds a kind of redemption on that very same circuit. There's also Todd (Paul Giamatti), a persistent traveling salesman obsessed with redeeming his frequent-flyer miles. (Needless to say, wherever he goes, they've expired.) Oh, and did we mention that Angie Dickinson plays Gwyneth's grandmother?

Even though Duets is a feature-length movie, it often reminds one of a 1970s ensemble TV program like 'The Love Boat,' in which characters are thrown together almost at random and everything is wrapped up in an hour. Duets runs close to two hours and seems even longer. It winds up with a shoot-'em-up finale that kills off one of its most sympathetic characters, and arguably the movie's best singer.

--Ed Kelleher