Nikki Leonti | Through the Shattered Lens

In the 1980s, no band better represented mediocre R&B than Eternity.

At least, that’s the claim made by 2014’s Eternity: The Movie, an occasionally amusing comedy in which Pennsylvania-bred singer/songwriter Todd Lucas (Barrett Clarke) moves to California, gets his dream job of working at BJ-Maxx, and eventually befriends a coworker whose name actually is BJ (Myko Oliver). BJ is a saxophonist who has released a solo album in which he covers the theme songs of classic detective shows. When the naive Todd and the irresponsible BJ get together, they become an unlikely hit-making duo. Their first song Make Love, Not Just Sex, shoots up the charts and soon, Todd and BJ are putting all of their personal issues to music.

Eternity: The Movie is a comedy that recycles a handful of jokes over and over again. The main joke is that Todd and BJ come across as being extremely into each other, even while they’re sleeping with groupies and both pining for their neighbor, Gina Marie (Nikki Leonti). Todd and BJ are the type of musical partners who discuss their lives while sharing a bubble bath. It’s not the cleverest joke ever told but, thanks to the ability of the actors to say the most ludicrous of lines with a deadpan face, I did chuckle occasionally. The better joke is that their music is both convincingly bad and also convincingly catchy. It’s the type of bad music that you can believe would become very popular. At one point, Todd sings a song about his ex-girlfriend, who drowned in a river. Throughout the song, he laments that she just wasn’t a better swimmer. The songs are performed with just the right amount of earnest stupidity to be funny.

As for Eric Roberts, he plays the manager of BJ-Maxx. Jon Gries and Martin Kove also show up, playing a record executive and the record executive’s father respectively. I’d like to see a movie where Eric Roberts and Martin Kove start a band. Someone should make that happen.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: