THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050071
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
THE CURRENT movie week, apparently, is a dumping ground for flicks that want to get out of the way before the big summer productions take over.
Rarely has such a variety of disasters emerged at the same time. Chuck Norris has gone to the dogs, and we reached the pits with ``Stuart Saves His Family.'' Add to the curious list something called ``Destiny Turns on the Radio.''
``Destiny'' is apparently trying to be a fantasy-romance-adventure about lost dreams - or something. It's not clear what it might be getting at. First-time director Jack Baran, with an ultra-thin script developed at the Sundance Institute, takes a bland, straightforward look at gambling.
Dylan McDermott, an aging hunk who keeps his jaw square at all times, plays an escaped con who returns to Las Vegas in an attempt to retrieve his lost loot and girlfriend.
His fellow bank robber, Henry Thoreau, played by a smarmy James LeGros, now operates the Marilyn Motel, featuring a neon sign of Marilyn Monroe in her ``Seven Year Itch'' skirt. When a pesky cop (Bobcat Goldthwait, apparently in a last-ditch effort to get movie employment) arrives, he is put in the ``Some Like It Hot'' suite.
The loot has apparently been whisked away by a character named Johnny Destiny, a mystic guy who rose from the motel's swimming pool in a burst of lightning. (I'm not making this up).
Destiny is played by Quentin Tarantino, who seems intent on quickly destroying the prestige he received for directing last year's ``Pulp Fiction.'' In what-becomes-a-genius-director-least, Tarantino seems to be taking every celebrity-fringe perk offered by Satan Hollywood. He's either on an ego trip or has bad advisers.
Nancy Travis is Lucille, the singer coveted by the escaped con. In the three years he's been in jail, she's taken up with James Belushi, manager of the Stardust Lounge, a guy who does bad impersonations of Elvis singing ``Viva Las Vegas.'' Her singing of out-of-date standards is mediocre, even though her voice is dubbed in by another singer.
These characters skirt around the nothing script as if they're looking for the ``Field of Dreams.'' If the movie is saying something about gambling and losers or spiritual redemption, it's being very vague about it.
With all its attempt to be eccentric, ``Destiny Turns on the Radio'' isn't even quirky. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Destiny Turns on the Radio''
Cast: Quentin Tarantino, Dylan McDermott, Nancy Travis, James
LeGros, James Belushi, Janet Carroll, Bobcat Goldthwait
Director: Jack Baran
Screenplay: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone,
MPAA rating: R (language, adult themes)
Mal's rating: One 1/2 stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square in Chesapeake; Main Gate, Military
Circle in Norfolk; Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven, Surf-N-Sand
in Virginia Beach
by CNB