Friday 19 June 2009

Film Review: WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS (2008)


Director: Tom Vaughan
Running time: 97 mins (approx)

Watched on Sky+ Friday 19th June 2009.

OK, so it’s a romantic comedy, I can be quite the romantic at times, after all, one of my favourite films is ‘The Princess Bride’. So, when you’ve finished laughing, I’ll tell you what I thought of this one. It tries very hard to be one of the old classic comedies like His Girl Friday or My Favorite Wife, but doesn’t quite reach the mark. It’s not a bad effort though, but more of that later…

Joy McNally is dumped by her boyfriend and her friend Tipper persuades her to go to Vegas to forget about it. At the same time, Jack Fuller is sacked from his job, by his father, and is persuaded by is friend, and lawyer, Hater to go to Vegas to forget about it all. Do you see a pattern emerging here? After a mix-up they all end up in the same room. With penthouse suits comped, they set out on the town. Bet you can’t guess what happens next…? After much alcohol, Joy and Jack end up getting married. The next morning they realise their mistake and agree to an annulment just before Jack wins 3 million dollars on a slot machine. As they are still legally married, they end up in court, where a judge sentences them to six months marriage. The money is frozen and the have to prove that they are working on their marriage by seeing a marriage counsellor. As you can guess, this is where the fun begins…

Decent performances by Cameron Diaz as Joy and Ashton Kutcher as Jack, although I don’t think either of them found the parts particularly challenging. Honourable mentions go to Rob Corddry as Hater and Lake Bell as Tipper. Also nice to see Treat Williams as Jack Fuller Sr., Dennis Farina as Joy’s boss, Banger and Queen Latifah as the marriage counsellor, Dr. Twitchell. Pretty well produced, a great soundtrack and over all not a bad effort, although not quite up there with the classics…

My score: 6/10

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