Easy's Waltz

Las Vegas has been fertile ground for filmmakers for decades, inspiring a surprisingly diverse range of films, from the campy (the Rat Pack classic Ocean’s Eleven) to the gritty (Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas, TIFF ’95) to glossy affecting romances about impossible dreams (Barry Levinson’s Bugsy and Steven Soderbergh’s updates on Ocean’s Eleven), and now Easy’s Waltz, starring Vince Vaughn and Al Pacino (also at the Festival in Dead Man’s Wire).

Written and directed by Nic Pizzolatto, creator of TV’s groundbreaking True Detective, Easy’s Waltz combines the grit of some of its predecessors with a hard-knock nostalgia for the Strip’s fading glories. Crooner Easy (Vaughn) has the talent to make the big time — but lacks the luck and the temperament.

Between self-sabotage, keeping his reckless little brother Sam (Simon Rex) out of trouble with girls and grifts, managing a restaurant where drunken gamblers regularly harass the wait staff, and paying for his mother’s retirement home, Easy has his hands too full for ambition.

Enter a well-respected former star (Pacino) who wants to take Easy to the next level. But will Easy’s old habits torpedo his one last shot at the limelight?

Boasting a phenomenal cast, including Rex, Kate Mara, and Canadians Shania Twain and Cobie Smulders, the film hinges on the chemistry between Vaughn and the legendary Pacino, who delivers a memorable performance that adds a paternal tinge to his trademark menacing charm.

ROBYN CITIZEN

Content advisory: strobing effects