Boxing was the American Dream in "Rocky," raw-knuckle boxing the American Dream in "Fight Club," bowling the American Dream in "Kingpin," lap-dancing the American Dream in "Showgirls," porn the American Dream in "Boogie Nights," bartending the American Dream in "Cocktail," bartending plus jiggling the American Dream in "Coyote Ugly." 
Are you ready for more? Get ready, for in "Duets," our national need to dream finds a new and final frontier: karaoke singing.
Maybe the silliest movie about the lust for song since Luciano Pavarotti did "Yes, Giorgio," this goof stars Gwyneth Paltrow and was directed by her father, Bruce, who is mainly a TV producer. She doesn't really act here; she just plugs in, beaming her Gwynethence.
Paltrow ends up with straw-blond pigtails as Liv, the most adorable of all the lounge canaries. Liv discovers her long-gone father, a karaoke hustler (there is even a fight reminiscent of "The Hustler").
Casting a music star like Huey Lewis seems unfair, among all the highly coached amateurs like Paltrow (doing nicely by "Bette Davis Eyes"). But the veteran hit-maker has more than practiced pipes. He has presence, a touch of Dean Martin leaning on James Garner. (Gwyneth, meanwhile, often has an oddly fragile walk, like a flamingo recovering from hip surgery).
Paul Giamatti, the big man's Danny DeVito, has more of a role than Paltrow or Lewis. He is Todd, a traveling schmoozer of development deals who has gone jet-lag sour on his American Dream. Todd is most enraged, most alienated, because hotels won't honor his massive accumulation of frequent-flier miles.
Then Todd discovers karaoke. Discovers it with astonishing speed, polish and assurance. Despite his new zeal for living la vida karaoke, Todd keeps being used by scripter John Byrum to shoot spitballs, making incendiary remarks about the displacement of sea turtles by real estate and "every other pipe dream in the USA!"
Andre Braugher plays Reggie, a soulful thug on the lam, rapidly harmonizing with Todd as they croon and doo-wop an ovation-winning "Try a Little Tenderness." It gets so melting and sincere that, later, they must affirm that they are not gay.
Not sincerity, but blind ambition drives demented karaoke careerist and attitudinal blowtorch Suzi (Maria Bello). She is frantic to reach California, maybe for a karaoke orgy at Hef's. Not even "Try a Little Tenderness" can overcome Bello's brazenly direct offering of oral sex a minute earlier, a rather tone-deaf touch for a movie about feel-good vocalizing.
It all leads, naturally, to a big contest where the top prize is $5,000, pocket change in the era of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." And then the story reaches all the way to a real American Dream classic, "Nashville," topping the contest with a scene of ballistic violence. Silence is requested, but a standing ovation is OK.
"Duets" has some humor, swell old songs, a Matt McConaughey variant named Scott Speedman, a guest cameo by Angie Dickinson (offering verbal, but not sung salutes to Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra) and the sweetness of Gwyneth. But even with Braugher on hand, it's like a white platter party for people scared of rap music.
In the strangest touch, tough old Marian Seldes shows up to tell us that life is unfair, godless, a sewer. Call it a Dante vision of life without karaoke.
A Hollywood Pictures release. Director: Bruce Paltrow. Writer: John Byrum. Cinematographer: Paul Sarossy. Composer: David Newman. Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Angie Dickinson, Andre Braugher, Maria Bello, Paul Giamatti, Huey Lewis, Scott Speedman, Marian Seldes. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.Rated R. 2 stars.
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