Charming, predictable
comedy “Last Vegas” doesn’t surprise
 |
| Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline |
The effusive new buddy-buddy comedy “Last Vegas” has some of the best
actors in film and they do their best to make the thinly calculated but fun
movie work above its lackluster script and direction. Michael Douglas, Robert
De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline star as four senior citizens who have
known each other for 60 years, who go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party to
celebrate the marriage of Douglas’s character to a much younger woman (maybe
this is a case of art imitating life), though they quickly find that Vegas is
often better suited to those much younger. The crowd-pleasing “Last Vegas”
mines the whole older-fish-out-of-water routine that has been done so much over
the years, which is its primary problem: it’s nothing new and you know exactly
where its going. If it weren’t for all of its Oscar-winning actors, all on
screen for the first time together, this would be completely forgettable. Also
starring lovely Oscar-winning actress Mary Steenburgen along with TV actors
Romany Malco (“Weeds”) and Jerry Ferrara (“Entourage”), it’s a flimsy excuse to
get these guys together onscreen, though admittedly fun at times, with Freeman
and a miscast Kline (he is too young for this) seemingly having the most fun,
though one humorous exchange occurs when the men judge a bikini contest with
unexpected results. Unmemorably directed by Jon Turtletaub (“National Treasure”)
and written by Dan Fogelman (“The Guilt Trip”), it’s a little on the TV sitcomy
side, given how neat and pat everything is resolved by the end, especially
after the big bachelor party, which is actually an anti-climactic letdown of
sorts. Mildly entertaining in a tame way and beneath the talents of all
involved (particularly De Niro and Douglas) , “Last Vegas” will be forgotten
much sooner than any of their long acting careers.
Wes's Grade: C
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