Last Vegas
3/4
Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen
Rated PG-13 for Sexual Content and Language
I did not have high hopes for this movie. I thought it would be like "The Bucket List" (also starring Morgan Freeman), where a safe, Z-list script would be cast with big stars so that undiscriminating audiences would be suckered into seeing it.
Fortunately, I was wrong. "Last Vegas," which is being marketed as "The Hangover" for the AARP crowd, is 90 minutes well spent. It's not a masterpiece by any means; the funniest moments are in the trailer, and it's unlikely that many of the jokes will earn more than grins. But, the four leads work hard to make their characters real, and that goes a long way.
Paddy (DeNiro), Billy (Douglas), Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline) have been best friends all their lives. Now in their golden years, they're coming together again for a weekend in Vegas to celebrate Billy's upcoming nuptials to Lisa (Bre Blair), a girl half his age. So the gang heads to the City of Sin for a weekend of drinking, girls and gambling. And they're hoping they can stay up late enough to enjoy it.
There's nothing in this movie that we haven't seen before. There's wish fulfillment (to the point of incredulity), bonding, and some unexpected romance. Each character has his own little subplot too: Paddy is grieving over the loss of his wife a year ago (this feeds into his beef with Billy), Archie is trying to have some fun while ignoring his worrywart son (Michael Ealy), Sam's marriage is on the skids, and to put some zest into it, his wife gives him a card with a condom and a viagra pill with the obligatory Vegas quote. And Billy is trying to decide if his future lies with Lisa or Diana (Steenburgen), the pretty lounge singer that they meet on their first day. Plus they all get revenge on a drunken jock named Dean (Jerry Ferrara, who is surprisingly hot) who picked a fight with them.
While it is true that the script doesn't make the most of the cast's considerable talents (all five of the leads have won Oscars), the actors don't coast through their roles. They work to make their character unique and interesting, and that makes the cliched moments work. I was surprised at how effective the film was and how much I grew to like the characters. Special mention has to go to Robert DeNiro, who makes his obligatory subplot poignant.
The problem is that the jokes aren't particularly funny. The majority of them work, but they fall into the "smiles" category, rather than the "laugh out loud" variety. There are some exceptions, especially their final punishment of Dean.
This is a genial, rather inoffensive comedy (the R rating was deservedly appealed, although I'm sure it wouldn't have been had it had a lesser known cast). I enjoyed myself, and I think a lot of people will too.
Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen
Rated PG-13 for Sexual Content and Language
I did not have high hopes for this movie. I thought it would be like "The Bucket List" (also starring Morgan Freeman), where a safe, Z-list script would be cast with big stars so that undiscriminating audiences would be suckered into seeing it.
Fortunately, I was wrong. "Last Vegas," which is being marketed as "The Hangover" for the AARP crowd, is 90 minutes well spent. It's not a masterpiece by any means; the funniest moments are in the trailer, and it's unlikely that many of the jokes will earn more than grins. But, the four leads work hard to make their characters real, and that goes a long way.
Paddy (DeNiro), Billy (Douglas), Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline) have been best friends all their lives. Now in their golden years, they're coming together again for a weekend in Vegas to celebrate Billy's upcoming nuptials to Lisa (Bre Blair), a girl half his age. So the gang heads to the City of Sin for a weekend of drinking, girls and gambling. And they're hoping they can stay up late enough to enjoy it.
There's nothing in this movie that we haven't seen before. There's wish fulfillment (to the point of incredulity), bonding, and some unexpected romance. Each character has his own little subplot too: Paddy is grieving over the loss of his wife a year ago (this feeds into his beef with Billy), Archie is trying to have some fun while ignoring his worrywart son (Michael Ealy), Sam's marriage is on the skids, and to put some zest into it, his wife gives him a card with a condom and a viagra pill with the obligatory Vegas quote. And Billy is trying to decide if his future lies with Lisa or Diana (Steenburgen), the pretty lounge singer that they meet on their first day. Plus they all get revenge on a drunken jock named Dean (Jerry Ferrara, who is surprisingly hot) who picked a fight with them.
While it is true that the script doesn't make the most of the cast's considerable talents (all five of the leads have won Oscars), the actors don't coast through their roles. They work to make their character unique and interesting, and that makes the cliched moments work. I was surprised at how effective the film was and how much I grew to like the characters. Special mention has to go to Robert DeNiro, who makes his obligatory subplot poignant.
The problem is that the jokes aren't particularly funny. The majority of them work, but they fall into the "smiles" category, rather than the "laugh out loud" variety. There are some exceptions, especially their final punishment of Dean.
This is a genial, rather inoffensive comedy (the R rating was deservedly appealed, although I'm sure it wouldn't have been had it had a lesser known cast). I enjoyed myself, and I think a lot of people will too.
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