What Happens In Vegas... Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 05.12.2008

It should have stayed in Vegas

Directed By: Tom Vaughan
Written By: Dana Fox

Starring:
Cameron Diaz - Joy McNally
Ashton Kutcher - Jack Fuller
Queen Latifah - Avette Stowers
Rob Corddry - Jeffery Lewis
Lake Bell - Toni Saxson
Treat Williams - Jack Fuller, Sr.
Michelle Krusiec - Chong
Dennis Miller - Judge Whopper
Dennis Farina - Richard Banger
Jason Sudeikis - Mason
Zach Galifianakis - Dave the Bear



Running Time: 99 Minutes
Rated PG-13 for some sexual and crude content, and language,including a drug reference

Marriage is a gold mine for romantic comedies. From My Best Friend’s Wedding to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Just Married to Runaway Bride and a host of others on top, Hollywood has always been able to find humor in the situations surrounding nuptials. It makes sense, really…it’s supposed to be such a beautiful, momentous and joyous day that (supposedly) every girl dreams of and every guy dreads, that there’s a lot that can go wrong to make for a laugh. Comedies are supposed to take relatable events and put them in such a way that the audience laughs and finds a release from the stress of their lives—things that someone can people can look at and remember in a way that’s heart-warming and funny. In the days of reality television, where people get married as part of a TV show, it’s no surprise that marriage rom-coms have flooded the screens as of late, with varied levels of success. 27 Dresses was an example of a recent success (largely on the charms of Katherine Heigl) while others haven’t done so well…The Wedding Date and License to Wed as examples. Last week, Made of Honor was released, performing tolerably against the behemoth that Iron Man is proving to be. And this week, we have another wedding rom-com, in the Ashton Kutcher/Cameron Diaz starrer What Happens In Vegas…

Joy McNally (Diaz), a commodities trader in New York, is an up-and-comer in the Wall Street world. When she gets dumped by her fiancé Mason (Sudeikis) in a rather degrading fashion, she’s devastated, and decides to head off to Las Vegas with her best friend (Bell). Once there, they have a blast by drinking, gambling, dancing on tables, and doing about everything you’d expect someone going to Sin City in a movie to do. They also meet up with Jack Fuller (Kutcher), who’s also there with his friend (Corddry). Jack is an utter slacker; he’s actually celebrating being fired from his latest job…by his father, this time. Circumstances have forced Jack and Joy together, as screwball comedies tend to do. In this case, they’re booked in the same suite....imagine that. After a drunken fling, they wake up married. Of course, Joy is mortified, and Jack doesn’t want to be hitched, so they agree to get a divorce when the get home. Before they do, however, Jack drops Joy’s quarter into a slot machine and wins $3 million. Of course, since it was Joy’s quarter, she wants her share. Unfortunately for both of them, they come up against Judge Whopper (Miller), who tells them with a look of disgust that they have to try and work it out. They’re sentenced to six months of “hard marriage,” with the comment from Whopper that “Gay people aren't destroying the sanctity of marriage. You two are.” Ouch.

Of course, their Odd Couple-esque pairing immediately clashes. Joy’s go-getter attitude and fastidious ways don’t jive with Jack’s slovenly slackerism. To make matters worse, they both realize, with the help of their best friends, that if either side violates the judge’s decree, then they forfeit all the money to the other side, so they start trying to undermine each other in supposedly creative ways. Jack fakes spousal abuse during mandatory couples therapy and pees in the sink when it’s Joy’s turn to do dishes; Joy keeps Jack up at night with loud music and blending and beats him with loafs of bread. It becomes a test to see if one can outlast the other…or perhaps, if they can actually fall for each other.

It’s a romantic comedy. You do the math.

Romantic comedies can be done well, and many times, they are. 27 Dresses was a fun, if not great, movie. Diaz’s last entry in this genre, The Holiday, was a very enjoyable piece of movie-making. Unfortunately, writer Dana Fox, who’s previous writing credit is the similarly-themed (and somewhat better) The Wedding Date, is unable to present anything remotely original or truly funny in the script. The plot is the kind of thing we’ve all seen before, and the escalating war of humiliation is tired and unfunny. When you hear lines such as, when Jack’s father tells him “You’re like a son to me” and Jack replies “I am your son!”, you begin to wonder if Fox didn’t just take other wedding romantic comedy scripts and copy and paste them into her own. It doesn’t help that director Tom Vaughan gives us nothing new, either. In this, Vaughan’s first big-budget film, he’s very clearly painting by the numbers, and letting his actors run amok while he tries to handle production decisions—which he does poorly.

With a weak script and directing, the onus would then fall on the actors to give us something worth enjoying in this film. Unfortunately, this is again not the case. Kutcher plays Jack much like he plays most of his slackers…with maximum cheese and camera-mugging. Kutcher has proven he’s capable of more then this, and he has a definite charm about him, but he seems very clearly in this for the paycheck only as he doesn’t strive to give Jack anything more interesting then what the script demands of him. On the flip side, Diaz throws her all into the movie, which unfortunately isn’t one of her strengths. Diaz is a good comedienne when she’s allowed to be natural, but when she starts acting wacky and tries to hard, it comes off as desperate and pathetic. The fact that the two have no chemistry with each other makes it that much harder to stomach. Their supporting cast isn’t much better, with Corddry and Bell sucking what little enjoyment there might be out of the best friends roles. Only Latifah and Williams are remotely tolerable as the marriage counselor and Jack’s father.

This film possibly could have worked better if it was an R-rated comedy and had the opportunity to take the gloves off. There are a couple moments where it starts to rise out of its own muck, and you can see something that’s potentially shining underneath. Unfortunately, in an attempt to mass-appeal and bring in the teenage girls who swoon over Kutcher and the boys who think Diaz is hot, it handicaps itself just as much as the script, directing, and acting does. It brings a film that was already handicapped out of the gate even lower, and that’s just sad.

The 411: Couples who find how thin the line between love and hate has been done before, and done well. What Happens In Vegas..., unfortunately, is not one of those movies. Kutcher and Diaz's poor performances and chemistry only add to the clichéd script, and director Tom Vaughan does little in the way of originality. What could have been at least an inoffensive (if not good) romantic comedy instead becomes a joyless waste of time for all involved.

Final Score:  3.0   [ Bad ]