The Big Kahuna

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Originally written as theater, The Big Kahuna is a star-powered adaptation that fails to shake off its inherent staginess. Much of the action occurs in a hospitality suite where three salesmen await a wealthy client. If it sounds like a sleeper, don't let the fact that it features Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito change your mind. The indelicate verbal poise and obvious philosophizing of a clumsy play informs much of the dialogue, and there isn't much action to speak of. The salesmen sell industrial lubricants. What might be a tense mid-life biopic and study in contrasting ambitions is undersold into staleness.