WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS |
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Jack and Joy meet in Vegas and are married 24 hours later. Problem 1, they win three million dollars. Problem 2, they hate each other. | score 1+ |
moviereview rates films from 1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable) |
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| Cast Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Lake Bell, Queen Latifah, Dennis Farina Director Tom Vaughan Screenwriter Dana Fox Country USA Rating / Running Time M / 105 minutes Australian Release May 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
What Happens In Vegas takes its cue from screwball comedy of the 1950’s with a significant dose of War of the Roses for nasty measure. Writer Dana Fox (The Wedding Date)
is working with a good premise: a down-on-their-luck couple meet by
chance in Vegas and get married somewhere during the blurry hours of a
long, debauched night. That Jack and Joy actually despise one other is
a minor matter until he wins $3 million with her coin. Suddenly the
quick, easy divorce gets messy. Messier still when the judge in a fit
of pique (“it’s not gays destroying the sanctity of
marriage – it’s you people!”), refuses an annulment
and forces them to cohabit for six months while they work things out.
It gets messiest of all when each plots to destroy the others’
credibility: “She’s awfully hostile for a girl named
Joy”. Yet somewhere between concept and script, the air was sucked out of Vegas as a more tepid, dispirited comedy you couldn’t hope to watch. Two, maybe three, bright moments engender a wan smile while the rest of Fox’s work is flat, self-conscious, by-the-numbers. Tom Vaughan directs with a heavy hand as he ticks off events that run the all-too familiar line of sitcom. Even the usually rewarding presence of Diaz, and to a lesser extent Kutcher, fails to get this off the ground. Among slender pickings is a half-joke about ball-sack flavoured popcorn and a late revelation regarding the relationship between Joy and Jack’s best friends. It’s not much, and not worth waiting for. On the upside, Kutcher displays ample flesh while Jet make it to the soundtrack. Otherwise What Happens In Vegas should have stayed in Vegas. // COLIN FRASER |