Coming to theatres today, Friday, August 17:
DAVI’S WAY
Director:
Tom Donahue
Premiere:
Hamptons 2016
Select Festivals:
Nashville
About:
A character actor attempts to honor Frank Sinatra’s centenary by re-staging one of the legend’s concerts.
Robert Davi has long traded on his straight out of central casting looks for a career as a Hollywood heavy. He’s appeared in more than 125 films, playing tough guys ranging from Bond villains to mobsters, but what he’s always wanted to do is play the lead. He’s also a die-hard fan of Frank Sinatra. On the occasion of his idol’s 100th birthday, Davi concocts a plan to pay tribute to the Chairman of the Board: Recreating Sinatra’s legendary 1974 concert, “The Main Event” – starring himself. While the actor’s musical training means that he’s likely able to pull off a passable performance, it’s his inflated sense of self that casts a huge question over the viability of the endeavor. Even if he might be able to pull off some scaled down version of the concert, why should he, and who’s likely to care? Donahue plays the proceedings like Davi’s the star of his own cringe-inducing version of CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, and there’s some schadenfreude appeal. Still, this is tempered by a nagging feeling that everything the audience is watching is manufactured or at least heavily performative in a reality TV kind of way, ultimately making for a less than satisfying viewing experience.
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