Looking like it was a script plucked straight out of the 70’s , maybe even the 50’s, the richly entertaining mid-range drama, Easy’s Waltz goes down easy indeed as an engrossing character study of the kind of Vegas lounge singer that ought to be in that museum on the strip that is full of salvaged signs of the Las Vegas that has been torn down and replaced by much glitzier new age models. That is probably an apt description of Easy (Vince Vaughn) himself, a guy just trying to make ends meet running a restaurant on the outskirts and performing nightly, a Vic Damone-ish style singer, really talented with the phrasing of a lyric and dedicated to delivering for the few faithfuls who actually come to see him perform.
It is his night job, as he also has to look out for the staff, the waitresses, and make sure ends meet. Into his life comes mover and shaker Mickey Albano (Al Pacino) who sees something in Easy that he can exploit and so convinces him he belongs instead at the Wynn Hotel on the strip and he can make it happen. He becomes a mentor and soon Easy is getting the bigger break he never thought would happen. Easy is the kind of Vegas fixture who could see the big time happening just “over there” in the glitzy distance of the world’s most famous gambling town, but the Sinatra era is dead. This is now a place where stars do “residencies”, but there are still lounges and Easy fits right in.
The complication for him is devotion to his younger, troubled brother Sam (Simon Rex) who acts as his “manager” but is generally a screw-up. It doesn’t change and Sam’s stupid moves affect his relationship with Mickey, landing him in increasing trouble. Mickey is a smooth old-style operator but don’t cross him or he will show up with his goon squad for some beating-up time. Easy also has to deal with his mother (Mary Steenburgen), a tough cookie he is paying to keep her above water. His visit to her is the kind of single scene where an Oscar winner like Steenburgen knocks it out of the park. We instantly know this woman, and it isn’t pretty.
Easy’s Waltz, and that title is one that instantly suggests this is going to be the kind of character-based movie Hollywood studios used to thrive on but now barely touch. This independently made film which had it World Premiere as a Special Presentation at the Toronto Film Festival tonight, marks the feature writing/directing debut of Nic Pizzolatto who proved in the first season of True Detective he has the chops for this sort of thing, and proves it again here with a richly entertaining Vegas-y movie that feels decades older that the era of The Hangover and Leaving Las Vegas.
It is an actors dream. Vaughn has one of his best roles here, a guy who can interpret everything from “Little Drummer Boy” to classics like “Edge Of Seventeen” to Darin and Anka in their prime, and get to the essence, but for is own good perhaps he shouldn’t drift from his longtime comfort zone by playing a game he doesn’t know so well. And it is nice to see Pacino get a decent part here. I have seen him in basically throwaway or smallish role in other films this Fall season including Julian Schnabel’s In The Hand Of Dante and Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire, but here his Mickey Albano may be Michael Corleone-light, but nonetheless lethal when he has to turn on a dime. At 85 he still has it. However, in a sadly poignant role as the down-on-his-luck Sam, Simon Rex really shows he has the dramatic chops to nearly steal the picture from a couple of ol pros like Vaughn and Pacino. He is terrific.
Most of the female parts, other than Steenburgen’s memorable if brief turn, including Kate Mara, Cobie Smulders, and Vegas veteran singer Shania Twain don’t have as much to do to make much of an impression, a distinctive problem the 1960 Ocean’s 11 also felt. This waltz is for the boys.
Producers are : Christopher Lemole, Tim Zajaros, Margot Hand, and Pizzolatto. It is looking for distribution.
Title: Easy’s Waltz
Festival: Toronto Film Festival – Special Presentations
Sales Agent: CAA
Director/Screenplay: Nic Pizzolatto
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Simon Rex, Kate Mara, Cobie Smulders, Shania Twain, Tim Simons, Fred
Melamed, Sophia Ali, Mary Steenburgen, and Al Pacino.
Running Time: 1 hour and 43 minutes
Pete Hammond
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