Duets is an ensemble road picture that takes three pairs of strangers on separate car trips to one location: Omaha, Nebraska, home of the $5000 Grand Prize Karaoke Contest. There's Ricky Dean (Huey Lewis), a karaoke hustler who is accompanied by his adult daughter, Liv (Gwyneth Paltrow), whom he just met for the first time at her mother's funeral. There's Suzi (Maria Bello from Coyote Ugly), a small-time singer trying to hit it big. She convinces cab driver Billy (Scott Speedman of "Felicity") to drive her halfway across the country in exchange for sexual favours. Finally, there's Todd (Paul Giamatti), a salesman who one day snaps, abandons his family, hits the road, and starts singing karaoke in bars. On his one-way trip to nowhere, he picks up ex-con Reggie (Andre Braugher), and the two strike up an unusual friendship based on guns and a pessimistic world view.
I was hoping that someone involved in the production would have the guts to let Lewis sing "The Power of Love", but twas not to be. One notable scene is when a chubby guy in a Hawaiian shirt (played by comedian John Pintile) comes to the microphone and prepares to launch into 'Copacabana'. He does a terrific, raucous version of the number, and rocks the house. This is an appealing, and ultimately moving, ensemble comedy/drama about ordinary folks whose one chance at anything resembling stardom is a karaoke contest.