‘Clams’ delivers mindless good time

There's no getting around it. The Onyx's 80-minute sketch "Silence of the Clams" is junk entertainment. But if you're in the mood for junk, it'll make you laugh. I easily surrendered.

Jamie Morris' script pokes fun at "Silence of the Lambs." Many jokes work. Many don't. What makes director Christopher Kenney's show a cut above average is the often eerie and effective (and simple) visual effects (by Justin Shearin), as well as the surprisingly superb acting.

Poor Clarice (Brooks Braselman) is an FBI Academy student who must try to get the imprisoned serial killer Hannibal Lichter (Morris) to help her on a case. She's after a guy named Beaver Bob (Morris) who seems to have some of Hannibal's cannibalistic habits. They form a strange and comical alliance.

Morris has given pleasurable performances as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Queerest" and Charlotte Rae in "The Facts of Life." But here, he demonstrates solid dramatic chops as Hannibal. When we first meet him, we notice he's a dead ringer in voice and body for Anthony Hopkins -- even though in "real" life, there's little resemblance. Morris goes way beyond impersonation. He gets inside this guy's skin so thoroughly that you wonder what might have been if Morris' agent had gotten the original script before Anthony Hopkins. He's a major talent.

Braselman is all neurotic spunk as the trainee. And she makes two very different cameos as Nancy Pelosi and her daughter. Darren Ross is a memorable nerd as Clarice's by-the-book boss.

Kenney achieves a fast, loose sense of pace. And Shearin's visuals feel like an additional character. With few set pieces, Shearin makes us feel as if we're walking down a long corridor in a prison full of danger. (Hannibal's first entrance is a gem of hype.) The panic of a girl trapped in a dungeon is maximized by the designer's half-mast but blinding color. And the climax -- a gunbattle in the dark -- has just enough light to suggest total darkness and deliver visual clarity.

It would be misleading to overpraise this production. You do often wish the writing were better. And you're likely to forget the show shortly after you've seen it. But it sets out to do nothing but give you a mindless good time. Within that scope, it succeeds. And Morris may be the sort of actor worth seeing in just about anything.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.