Saint John of Las Vegas (2009)

An ex-gambler is lured back into the game by a veteran insurance-fraud investigator.

Director:

Hue Rhodes

Writer:

Hue Rhodes

Stars:

Steve Buscemi, Romany Malco, Sarah Silverman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Buscemi	...	John
Romany Malco	...	Virgil
Sarah Silverman	...	Jill
Peter Dinklage	...	Mr. Townsend
Jesse Garcia	...	Park Ranger
John Cho	...	Smitty
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Militant Ned
Matthew McDuffie	...	Lucypher
Emmanuelle Chriqui	...	Tasty D Lite
Ben Zeller	...	Truck Stop Owner
Aviva Baumann	...	Pennie (as Aviva)
Shawn Prince	...	Ticket Taker
Danny Trejo	...	Bismarck
Stephen Eiland	...	Mordicai
Josh Berry	...	Manager

Storyline

An ex-gambler is lured back into the game by a veteran insurance-fraud investigator.

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Plot Keywords:

place name in title | male frontal nudity | city name in title

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Taglines:

Getting lucky is a roll of the dice.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 June 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

São João de Las Vegas

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$21,666 (USA) (29 January 2010)

Gross:

$100,669 (USA) (26 February 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Circle of Confusion, IndieVest Pictures, Olive Prods

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

At approximately 30:10 when John (Buscemi)is speaking to the gas station cashier, the envelope with the $1000 in it disappears and reappears.

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Crazy Credits

After the end credits, the cast members appear individually taking a bow.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Road/Ninja Assassin/Old Dogs (2009)

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Soundtracks

"DIDN'T I"
Written by William Daron Pulliam and John Tanner
Performed by Darondo
Courtesy of Luv N' Haight / Ubiquity Records
By Arrangement with Sugaroo

User Reviews

Quirky movie lacks compelling storyline

Steve Buscemi holds this one together, the other main characters are impossible to identify with - either because they don't say much or they are mysterious and mean. There are a lot of bizarre situations that are thrown in which don't really further the storyline but show off a type of artistic creativeness. They definitely had a lot of good ideas here, and perhaps the movie would have been more interesting if they simply abandoned the tired story line and went from one hypnotic scenario to the next (Like Fear and Loathing). But the main story (the story about the insurance fraud) progresses in the background without momentum and when it is finally resolved it feels anticlimactic. But there is another story here, perhaps more important - the one concerning Steve Buscemis past. This could have been developed into a compelling and meaningful drama but it is only used to further the comedy (and to tack on the Confucious ending) There are a few laughs along the way here and a good deal of cute/quirky ideas. Could have been improved with a bit of storyline editing beforehand.