# Diamonds (1999)

### reviewed by
Michael Dequina

    _Diamonds_ (PG-13) ** (out of ****)

A grandfather, his son, and grandson take a road trip from Canada to Reno, Nevada in search of some lost diamonds, along the way taking an extended side trip at a brothel. It sounds like a junky comedy ripe for release in the January/February dumping ground, and John Asher's film would have received that undistinguished--and, to a certain extent, deserved--treatment if not for one person: Kirk Douglas, who headlines as the cantankerous former championship boxer searching for riches and renewed happiness in his twilight years.

His touching, effortless performance--his first screen role since suffering a stroke--is the reason why Miramax is giving the film a one-week awards qualifying engagement, and indeed it is great to see the former Spartacus back where he belongs; his acting skills are in tip-top shape even if his body isn't. Yet I wouldn't call his performance particularly award-worthy other than for sentimental reasons, which is more than I can say for this rather silly and sappy film, which also stars Dan Aykroyd as Douglas' son, who only wants his daddy's love and approval; and Corbin Allred as Aykroyd's rebellious son, perhaps the whitest of white boys to ever utter such terms such as "yo" and "phat." The normally overwrought Jenny McCarthy, late of MTV's _Singled_Out_ and _Playboy_ magazine, is nicely held in check as a prostitute (insert your own joke here); and as her madam, Lauren Bacall strikes luminous sparks with Douglas, with whom she had previously teamed nearly 50 years ago on _Young_Man_with_a_Horn_. However, not even the reunion of these two screen legends makes the film evaporate from the memory any less quickly. (reopens January 21)

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