Saint John of Las Vegas

Directed by Hue Rhodes

(R)

*

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A gambling addict with bad luck returns to Las Vegas.

Saint John of Las Vegas is the “kind of thinly conceived, quirk-for-quirk’s-sake indie that gives indies a bad name,” said Sheri Linden in The Hollywood Reporter. Director Hue Rhodes makes a less than impressive debut with this self-conscious comedy, despite a cast that includes Steve Buscemi and Sarah Silverman. Buscemi plays a compulsive gambler who flees Las Vegas for a desk job at an insurance company, only to be called back to the Strip to investigate a claim. He and his girlfriend (Silverman) set off on a long, strange trip—that ultimately leads nowhere, said Andrew Grant in Time Out New York. An “open road and quirky characters” seem to be all that’s required to create an “Amerindie comedy” these days, but Rhodes’ gang of oddball characters simply grates. The plot was purportedly inspired by Dante’s Inferno, but you wouldn’t know it, said Glenn Whipp in the Associated Press. Saint John of Las Vegas is no “divine comedy,” though viewers may feel they’re trapped in purgatory.