Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Three salesmen working for a firm that makes industrial lubricants are waiting in the company's "hospitality suite" at a manufacturers' convention for a "big kahuna" named Dick Fuller to show up, in hopes they can persuade him to place an order that could salvage the company's flagging sales.
The Big Kahuna is essentially a filmed stage play, confined almost entirely to one hotel suite, where three salesmen — veteran Phil (Danny DeVito), cocky Larry (Kevin Spacey), and earnest young Bob (Peter Facinelli) — wait for a crucial client and end up in a deeply moral conversation about identity, faith, and authenticity. The plot is thin by design, a vessel for dialogue, and it works well enough though it rarely surprises. Acting is the clear standout: DeVito delivers one of his most quietly powerful performances, and Spacey is electric in his rapid-fire cynicism, making the two-hander dynamic crackle. Cinematography is serviceable but unremarkable — the stage-to-screen adaptation adds little visual imagination, confined to static setups in a bland hotel room. Novelty is moderate; the chamber-piece moral drama has precedents but the specific collision of salesmanship, existential regret, and evangelical faith gives it a distinct flavor. The ending, featuring DeVito's monologue about wearing faces, is genuinely moving and philosophically resonant, though it arrives somewhat predictably as the film's culminating statement.