What Happens in Vegas... Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)May 9th, 2008
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *
Scream, scream, scream. When did writers get the idea that what audiences find really funny in comedies is screaming, the louder and more frequent the better? Why not just call the film SCREAMING LAS VEGAS?
A full-out assault on your senses, WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS isn't just bad. It's painful.
While the film's two stars, Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, can be good, too often they just aren't, as in their grating performances in WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, which may well be the worst movie either of them has ever made. Still, the rest of the cast, including Rob Corddry and Lake Bell are so bad that they make Diaz and Kutcher look at least a little better in contrast.
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS is set in . New York. Okay, there is a short segment in Las Vegas, but most of the movie happens in the Big Apple. Both cities share something, however. Thanks to Matthew F. Leonetti's dark and dingy cinematography, neither city is very appealing.
Why, when ticket prices are starting to be over ten bucks, do films keep looking so shabby? Any episode of any the CSI series on television is much more appealing, especially in high definition. Using the medium of film projected onto a large screen in a darkened theater should surpass anything that we can produce in our homes. But that is a theory that most movies these days just don't seem to get. No wonder the studios are having increasing problems in pushing their products in the theaters. Sure, some big budget productions like IRON MAN have cinematography capable of dazzling, but most movies look bland and lifeless these days. Expect the exodus of viewers to continue, so that the only films worth seeing in the theater will be the megamovies.
The setup for WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, which doesn't contain a single believable moment, is that strangers Joy McNally (Diaz) and Jack Fuller (Kutcher) get drunk in Vegas and wake up married. But winning three million dollars at the slots right before they head for the divorce courts complicates their lives. Of course, they will squabble and bicker until they find by the end that they are really made for each other after all. You've seen this movie a hundred times before and will easily be able to predict its every turn.
In one of the movie's many awful scenes, Judge Whopper (Dennis Miller) sentences Joy and Jack to "six months of hard marriage" before he'll agree to their break-up. In the meantime, the judge puts the couple's newly won riches in escrow.
The judge perfectly captures my sentiment when he tells Joy and Jack and their friends, "I don't like you. I don't any of you."
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS runs a long 1:39. It is rated PG-13 for "some sexual and crude content, and language, including a drug reference" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: [email protected]
***********************************************************************
Want reviews of new films via Email?
Just write [email protected] and put "subscribe" in the subject line.
More on 'What Happens in Vegas...'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
