Duets

Duets is a road-trip comedy set in the world of karaoke, following a group of strangers whose travels converge on a national singing competition in Omaha, Nebraska, where a cash prize awaits the winner. Among them are a travelling hustler who makes money off small-town amateur singers, the daughter he barely knows, a salesman whose life and career have stalled, a reluctant duo thrown together on the highway, and others looking for a way out of their ordinary circumstances. Their separate stories gradually intersect as the contest approaches.

The film was directed by Bruce Paltrow, his second feature behind the camera, from a screenplay by John Byrum, who produced alongside Kevin Jones and Paltrow. The cast includes Maria Bello, Andre Braugher, Paul Giamatti, Huey Lewis, Gwyneth Paltrow and Scott Speedman, with 57 credited performers in total. It runs 112 minutes and was released in September 2000.

Critical response was negative, with a critics' rating of 4 out of 10 across 92 reviews. Audiences were somewhat more forgiving: on TMDB the film holds 5.7 out of 10 from 164 votes, a modest score that still sits above the critics' average.