Bad Cupid

An idea with good potential about a matchmaking deity gone to seed, "Bad Cupid" is undone by dim bulb characters and sitcom timing.

"Bad Cupid" isn't the most original idea for a movie, but it's a decent one: Cupid, the minor deity of matchmaking, has gone to seed and grown sick of his job, and these days is gleefully engaging in sabotage and violence in carrying out his duties.

Often, he spends more time on breaking up bad couples than bringing good ones together.

Screen legend John Rhys-Davies ("Raiders of the Lost Ark," the LOTR triology) plays Cupid as a dyspeptic old man in a black suit, red shirt and jaunty rose in his lapel. He carries a pistol and a whole lot of bad attitude. As we witness him in the opening sequence, he steals the ring from a man proposing to his girlfriend, and has a bloodied, tuxedoed bridegroom bound up in the trunk of his car.

Cute little bare-assed cherub plunking magic romance arrows into unrequited lovers, he is not.

If the filmmakers -- directors Neal Howard and Diane Cossa, working from a script by Howard, Ira Fritz and Anthony Piatek -- had kept their attention on Rhys-Davies, following his character around and seeing what scrapes he gets into, it could've made for a cheeky, fun flick in the mold of "Bad Santa" or "Bad Teacher." Sort of a whole new genre devoted to badness.

Alas, the film is undermined by dim bulb characters and sitcommy plot movements.

Rhys-Davies actually gets very little screen time until about midway through. Until then we're riding with Dave (Shane Nepveu), a curly-topped, morose loser whose girlfriend, Denise (Christine Turturro), broke up with him a year ago and he still can't get over it.

His wingwoman is his cousin, Morris (Briana Marin), a self-confident lesbian who I think is supposed to be his contemporary but looks about 15 years older. She preaches from the book of hedonism, advising Dave to get busy with some other girls and move on.

They plan an abrupt trip to Las Vegas that lasts just long enough for them both to be bedded, and make clear that the filmmakers used a hotel room and bar to substitute for Vegas. It's strange that no one thought to include Cupid in a romp through this town, what with its roadside churches and bad decisions and all.

When the action returns to Buffalo, Cupid -- who goes by the name Archie -- accosts Dave and Morris in a bar. Dave has just learned that Denise is getting married in the church across the street, and Archie has taken some extreme actions involving a fellow we saw earlier (Claybourne Elder) that could potentially give Dave another shot at his lady love.

The whole thing feels like an off-brand TV sitcom, and not something you'd see on a major network, either. The jokes are mostly lame and there's a lot of the actors just mugging for the camera.

Rhys-Davies gets in a few good lines and moments, such as his insistence on a pastrami sandwich that's extra lean. It's a little unclear if Archie actually is a mythological figure or just a crackpot who took up the mantle for something to do. I just wish we had more of him instead of these stock-character youngsters.