3000 Miles to Graceland
© James C. Hess
There is bad news.
The good news: Kevin Costner stars in "3000 Miles to Graceland".
The bad news: Kevin Costner stars in "3000 Miles to Graceland".
Ever since "Dances With Wolves", in which he proved he has the ability and talent to be more than a semi-good-looking male actor, Kevin Costner has, it seems, done almost everything he can to destroy his credibility in front of and behind the camera. (How else to explain "Waterworld"?)
"3000 Miles to Graceland" is the latest proof of this.
The latest (but, unlikely, not the last) in a string of pointless efforts out to one-up Quentin Tarantino "3000 Miles to Graceland" is a self-indulgent nihlistic romp perpetuated by a no-talent named Demian Lichtenstein. There is nothing whatsoever to this movie that suggest humanity or redemption. (Thereby, otherwise, suggesting value and merit.) That it lacks all this makes me wonder what those who appeared in it were thinking: Kurt Russell, the aforementioned Kevin Costner, Christian Slater, David Arquette, Bokeeem Woodbine, Kevin Pollack, and Courteney Cox.
"3000 Miles to Graceland" is about a gang that robs a casino while masquerading as Elvis impersonators. A possibly interesting premise that is ruined because "3000 Miles to Graceland" attempts to be, at once, comedic and action.
For whatever it is worth: It fails. Horribly.
About the robbery: It is gory, bloody, gratuitous. Pointless. Pointless. Pointless. And as if to emphasize this director Lichtenstein tries to be cute as a film school schmuck might, intercutting the robbery with an Elvis revue taking place on a stage (presumably somewhere nearby).
Costner is the leader of the gang that commits the robbery. That's it, really. He chain-smokes, he chain-smokes, he chain-smokes, seems to be doing a "Saturday Night Live" parody of Steve McQueen, and looks mean. (Or is it constipated? It's hard to tell in this context.)
The robbery takes place, the one black guy in the gang (Bokeem Woodbine) dies first, and the plot lumbers to the next plot point:
The gang makes off with the loot, there is a predictable fight over who should get what, and a confusing relationship is made: Between Kurt Russell's character and Courteney Cox's character: She is the mother of a bright boy played by David Kaye.
Given the mindless construct of the movie overall the character played by Cox is at once confusing and intriguing: Why, really, is she in The Last Chance Motel and what is her motivation?
Toss in the bit about her son sneaking into the bedroom while she sacks and racks Russell sexually, and how it is an eight-year-old manages to steal Russell's wallet, oblivious to what is happening in the bed, and one must ask:
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