Review of Saint John of Las Vegas (2010) by Thomas W — 20 Nov 2012

First-time full-length director Hue Rhodes has taken a gamble with this pitch black dramedy about compulsive gambler John (Steve Buscemi - "Boardwalk Empire", Fargo, Reservoir Dogs), who has uprooted his life thus-far filled with bad habits and poor choices to escape the vices of Vegas to start anew in the slower, less frenetic and tempting city of Albuquerque, New Mexico (which means John must not watch AMC's Breaking Bad!).

John's new life is considerably less-exciting as he works the phones in the back offices of an auto insurance company. His one joy at work -- and perhaps within the entire city and in his "new life" -- is sharing his cubicle with "yellow happy face" obsessed Jill (Sarah Silverman - Wreck-It Ralph, Take This Waltz, Evolution).

Wanting a little more out of life, John's attempt to ask his boss (Peter Dinklage - "Game of Thrones", Elf, The Station Agent) for a raise finds himself being assigned as a partner to Virgil (Romany Falco - Think Like a Man, Baby Mama, Blades of Glory), a top in-the-field investigator for fraudulant claims.

John's life is thrown for a loop/into danger (!) when his new assignment finds him investigating a dubious filing in Sin City (darn the luck!). Saint John has a great cast (although some of the casting may be questionable) and there are some laughs here (some easy and some uncomfortable).

This isn't a bad movie; the downside is that it is just not good enough for a recommendation. No matter what genre one would want to place this movie into, there would be much better ones to watch in any of them.

Craps!