Tedious Vegas Isn’t Happening
When charismatic New York party animal Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) is fired from his carpentry job by his father Jack, Sr. (Treat Williams) he quickly heads to Vegas with uncouth best friend Hater (Rob Corddry) to blow off some steam. While there, he runs into beautiful (if buttoned-up) commodities trader Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) and her girlfriend Tipper (Lake Bell) who is also reeling from a recent personal setback, her fiancé of four years Mason (Jason Sudeikis) ending their relationship almost without warning.
Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz in 20th Century Fox's What Happens in Vegas
After a night of alcohol-fueled frivolity, Jack and Joy wake to find themselves inexplicably married. With absolutely nothing in common, they angrily agree to annul the nuptials as soon as both of them return to the Big Apple. But when an unexpected three million windfall at a slot machine leaves both laying claim to the money, a disgusted judge (Dennis Miller) orders the pair to six months hard marriage before he’ll decide who gets what leaving both individuals dumbstruck as to how they’ll ever survive the annoying character traits of their now significant other.
The new romantic comedy What Happens in Vegas takes the prize for the absolute worst theatrical trailer I have seen this year. Why anyone would even remotely want to see this film after viewing it is way beyond me. It is freakishly horrific, and whomever in the Fox marketing team it was who threw this one together should probably have their position with the company immediately re-evaluated.
The good news is that the movie itself is nowhere near as disastrous as that trailer made it appear. The bad news is that the darn thing still isn’t all that great. While things admittedly get better as they go along, overall this is a comedy where the laughs are so few and so far between and almost felt as if I could have gone to sleep and not missed a single one of them. It is boring and way too familiar, and anyone expecting anything else will certainly come away disappointed.
The rest of us will just leave not feeling much of anything. Kutcher and Diaz are running through the motions here (the latter looking shockingly haggard and at times even downright awful), nothing more, the two of the sharing so little in the way of chemistry I can’t imagine anyone will care whether or not they ultimately end up together. Director Tom Vaughn (the delightful Starter for 10) adds little of interest on his end, while writer Dana Fox (The Wedding Date) has obviously seen every romantic comedy every made and proudly presents each and every one of their clichés one right after the other.
I guess the only thing I can say about all of this is that I didn’t loathe it like I did the recently released Made of Honor. Corddry and especially Bell have some seriously great sidekick moments, and if I happened to run across the movie on late night Cable television it theoretically might make a suitable diversion if I was folding clothes or cleaning the kitchen. But that’s the extent my goodwill goes here, and if I had my ways What Happens in Vegas probably would have stayed in the minds of its creators instead of polluting the multiplex with all its infuriating tedium.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
Additional Links:
- What Happens in Vegas Theatrical Trailer
