This is the first movie I've seen in three weeks and it's a good one. It's a relatively low-key story with comedic elements. Duets is a movie about three duos who have wildy different backgrounds and experiences as they make their way to Omaha for a karaoke championship. Karaoke is that thing people do in bad nightclubs and bars where they sing along with a teleprompter. Or at least that's the picture I get when I think about the concept.

As the movie shows, that is how karaoke works. This movie is not about karaoke though, it's about people who sing karaoke. As one character says: "where else can anyone go up onstage and be the center of the room for three minutes?" (Or something to that effect). And although it looks silly, I can see how it could be fun if the audience is as enthusiastic and supportive as the ones in this movie. There's even weird lingo for the karaoke scene, most of which I forgot because they were only used occassionally and they didn't explain the terms. I only remember "shadow" which is a karaoke a groupie.

Back to the story. We have Huey Lewis playing Ricky Dean. A karoke hustler who goes from bar to bar making fun of the local karaoke champs and betting them that he can beat them at karaoke. (The film shows the professionals going from bar to bar competing in the local karaoke events -- apparently every karaoke bar has contests for cash prizes). Ricky finds out that a former girlfriend died unexpectedly, so he flies to Las Vegas where he meets Liv (Gwyneth Paltrow) at the funeral. It turns out that Liv is his somewhat naive daughter by this former girlfriend. All Liv wants is to know her father better while Ricky is unsure of what to make of having a daughter.

Todd Woods (Paul Giamatti) is a salesman. He's just logged 200 000 airline miles getting some city to allow an amusement park to be built, a park that probably is going to make some species of turtle extinct because the waterslide is going to be built in their last known breeding ground. He is a drone with a wife and two kids that are too wrapped up in their own lives to say hello to him when he gets back from the airport. Frustrated with his life, looking for the meaning of it all, he tells his wife that he's going out for a pack of cigarettes, wanders into a karaoke bar and is transformed by the experience.

Todd start driving and picks up Reggie (Andre Braugher), a ex-con just out of jail. Reggie has spent most of his life behind bars and has no useful civilian skill other than singing, and who'd pay him to hear him sing? Todd introduces Reggie to karaoke and finds Reggie's gun ("this is the meaning of life, the power over life and death!" exclaims Todd). Todd is slowly getting out of control and throwing his life away while Reggie, who knows what that life is like, tries to get Todd back on track.

Billy (Scott Speedman) is not quite a loser, more of an individual without the drive to succeed. He owns half a cab (a stationwagon) and he came home early to find his girlfriend and partner had been sleeping together. Dejected, Billy goes to a local bar wherein Suzi Loomis (Maria Bello) walks in. Suzi is a karaoke pro looking for a contest so she can get some money so that she can go to California. Instead she convinces Billy to take control of his life and do something for himself, like drive her to California.

This is a movie about six people, their separate journeys to Omaha, and what happens therein. It's a movie about making friends and forming relationships. It does have some karaoke numbers, well done. Huey Lewis is of course a good singer so he does his own songs. Surprisingly, Paltrow and Bello also sing their own songs and do a good job of it (they're not supposed to be professional singers so it's hard to tell if they could have sung better, but it was good enough for good karaoke singers).

There are funny moments and touching moments. I guess some people would classify this as a date movie. If you hate people singing in movies then you won't like this one. Otherwise it's a good drama that doesn't try to moralize or be grand or be anything other than a nice understated movie. Watch it while it's still in theatres.