Thursday, May 22, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: Two left feet

Duvall trips in Assassination Tango

By Jeannette Catsoulis

At 72, the amazing Robert Duvall probably has earned the right to make this self-indulgent piece of tripe--which shouldn't keep us from wishing he hadn't. Indulging his love of both the tango and his considerably younger girlfriend, Luciana Pedraza, Duvall has casually thrown together a movie so indolent and thinly conceived that one watches only to confirm the almost total absence of incident.

Cultivating a scrappy ponytail and a cocky walk, Duvall plays John, a spry assassin touchy about his age and prone to outbursts of unexpected temper. When not whacking people, he manages a chain of Bronx beauty salons and dotes, somewhat queasily, on the young daughter of girlfriend Kathy Baker. Against his better judgment, he accepts an assignment in Argentina; and when complications delay the hit he haunts the local dance clubs and is drawn to a beautiful young dancer (Pedraza, dancing much better than she acts).

Assassination Tango is an odd, choppy little film that flirts with unsavoriness (after an evening with John, a prostitute informs the police: "He asked me to call him Daddy"). No more than a vanity project, it's a movie that never finds its tone--or its footing.