'Saint John of Las Vegas' has comedic timing

In "Saint John of Las Vegas," the hero's name is John "Alighieri," his job mentor is "Virgil," and the adversary they meet up with is "Lou Cipher."

So what we're dealing with here is a goof on Dante Alighieri's Medieval novel, "Inferno" — aka "Dante's Inferno." But for a "goof," this comedy that Steve Buscemi was born to star in has many inspired conceits and more than a few laugh-out-loud moments.

John (Buscemi) is a still-addicted gambler who abandoned Vegas for a cubicle job in an Albuquerque insurance agency. If you work in one, you know how apt that "first circle of hell is a cubicle" analogy is.

"I've never had a desk job before, but I've watched enough TV," John narrates. He knows the drill. Act ambitious among the "straights," try to keep his gambling secret, even from foxy Jill (Sarah Silverman, hilarious) in the next cubicle over. John can't even buy gas without emptying his wallet on "Instant Jackpot Madness" tickets.

But his boss — Peter Dinklage of "Station Agent" — sees John as a future fraudulent claims investigator. He ships John off to another vision of Hell — Las Vegas — to learn the gig from the veteran fraud guy Virgil (Romany Malco of "Weeds" and "Baby Mama"), to talk a wheelchair-bound stripper (Emmanuelle Chriqui) into revealing her fraud with a lap dance, to contend with junk-yard dogs like Danny Trejo, a carnival sideshow freak named "The Flame Lord" and wacko "Burning Man" nudist-survivalists like Tim Blake Nelson.

Writer director Hue Rhodes frames his story, complete with nightmares — within a visit to a convenience store, where John clumsily flirts with a clerk and considers how much of what's in his wallet should go for Lotto tickets. He's a guy trying to change his luck, but one who sort of grows — in spite of himself — on this journey.

Comic casting and comic timing pay off in most scenes, with Dinklage landing the big laughs, Malco doing his wise-guy-talking-down-to-the-doofus patter and Buscemi just bugging out and reacting to the craziness.

It's all contrived and a couple of scenes lack any grounding in logic. And it's too indie to become a pop-culture phenomenon. But if there's justice, this movie's romantic punch line could turn into a pop culture catch-phrase. See "Saint John" and you'll drop "the love tug" into casual conversation, too.

Saint John of Las Vegas

3 stars

Cast: Steve Buscemi, Romany Malco, Sarah Silverman, Peter Dinklage

Directors: Hue Rhodes

Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes

Industry rating: R for language and some nudity

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