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What it's about:
Stock trader Joy (Cameron Diaz) has just been dumped by her fiancé. Party-guy Jack (Ashton Kutcher) has just been fired by his boss who happens to be his dad. When the two strangers descend on Las Vegas with their respective best friends Tipper (Lake Bell) and Hater (Rob Corddry) to drown their sorrows, they're accidentally booked into the same room. After a night of drunken debauchery the pair wake to discover they've gotten married. Both decide to part ways amicably, but on the way to get divorced Jack plays Joy's coin in a slot machine and they hit the $3 million jackpot. But whose money is it? Back in Manhattan things worsen when a judge refuses to grant the now bickering couple an annulment and sentences them to six months of "hard marriage" – if they don't try to make their marriage work they won't see a dime of the $3 million booty.
What we think of it:
Let's be honest for a moment, What Happens in Vegas follows the most basic of rudimentary plots. Two strangers meet, next follows beer-goggle sex, a drunken Vegas wedding and a sobering Manhattan divorce. We all know what to expect from the story line and when to expect it, but writer Dana Fox (The Wedding Date 2005) wittily whips up a fun rollercoaster ride which spirals into an entertaining battle of the sexes that makes you forget (if only for 60 minutes) about the inevitable cheesy ending.
The romantic comedy targets the "quick-fix generation". But unlike similar adult comedies such as Knocked Up (2007) and The Heartbreak Kid (2007), What Happens in Vegas takes a refreshing break from the gross-out gags – with the exception of one or two scenes, depending on your definition of gross, of course.
Over the years Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher have perfected their individual style of comedy, which surprisingly complement one another perfectly. Diaz and Kutcher practice a little comedic restraint as mature characters compared to their previous over the top roles in projects like Charlie's Angels (2003) and "That 70's Show" (2006). Supporting actors Lake Bell and Rob Corddry are funny enough to pad out the battle of the sexes row, and just unpretty enough not to distract audiences from Kutcher and Diaz.
What Happens in Vegas is all you could want or expect from a formulaic romantic comedy – easy on the endorphins, easy on the laughs and easy on the eyes. It's far from cinematic brilliance, but it's a great date movie.
- Megan Kakora
Get published on Channel24! Send us your movie, music and live gig reviews and columns and get published on Channel24. Send your articles to PublishMe@sa.24.com.
Stock trader Joy (Cameron Diaz) has just been dumped by her fiancé. Party-guy Jack (Ashton Kutcher) has just been fired by his boss who happens to be his dad. When the two strangers descend on Las Vegas with their respective best friends Tipper (Lake Bell) and Hater (Rob Corddry) to drown their sorrows, they're accidentally booked into the same room. After a night of drunken debauchery the pair wake to discover they've gotten married. Both decide to part ways amicably, but on the way to get divorced Jack plays Joy's coin in a slot machine and they hit the $3 million jackpot. But whose money is it? Back in Manhattan things worsen when a judge refuses to grant the now bickering couple an annulment and sentences them to six months of "hard marriage" – if they don't try to make their marriage work they won't see a dime of the $3 million booty.
What we think of it:
Let's be honest for a moment, What Happens in Vegas follows the most basic of rudimentary plots. Two strangers meet, next follows beer-goggle sex, a drunken Vegas wedding and a sobering Manhattan divorce. We all know what to expect from the story line and when to expect it, but writer Dana Fox (The Wedding Date 2005) wittily whips up a fun rollercoaster ride which spirals into an entertaining battle of the sexes that makes you forget (if only for 60 minutes) about the inevitable cheesy ending.
The romantic comedy targets the "quick-fix generation". But unlike similar adult comedies such as Knocked Up (2007) and The Heartbreak Kid (2007), What Happens in Vegas takes a refreshing break from the gross-out gags – with the exception of one or two scenes, depending on your definition of gross, of course.
Over the years Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher have perfected their individual style of comedy, which surprisingly complement one another perfectly. Diaz and Kutcher practice a little comedic restraint as mature characters compared to their previous over the top roles in projects like Charlie's Angels (2003) and "That 70's Show" (2006). Supporting actors Lake Bell and Rob Corddry are funny enough to pad out the battle of the sexes row, and just unpretty enough not to distract audiences from Kutcher and Diaz.
What Happens in Vegas is all you could want or expect from a formulaic romantic comedy – easy on the endorphins, easy on the laughs and easy on the eyes. It's far from cinematic brilliance, but it's a great date movie.
- Megan Kakora
Get published on Channel24! Send us your movie, music and live gig reviews and columns and get published on Channel24. Send your articles to PublishMe@sa.24.com.
