'What Happens in Vegas' is nothing to write home about; no sizzle between Diaz and Kutcher


by James Sanford | Kalamazoo Gazette
Friday May 09, 2008, 7:27 AM

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher don't exactly hit the comedy jackpot in WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS.

Perhaps you've had the bad luck to see one of your favorite singers in concert on a night when he or she simply didn't feel like putting on much of a show.

That's how it feels watching Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher go through their paces in WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, a would-be wacky comedy in which the stars frequently look as if they'd rather be somewhere else. If you were saddled with the task of trying to pump some comic juice into Dana Fox's anemic screenplay, who's to say you wouldn't feel the same way?

While VEGAS gives Diaz and Kutcher a few opportunities to reprise tricks that have served them well in other films -- she wails a tuneless version of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" that's reminiscent of her big karaoke scene in MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING, while he gets to run through his library of exasperated expressions, just as he did in GUESS WHO -- they seem almost as excited by the challenge as Celine Dion would be if she were asked to sing "My Heart Will Go On" one more time.

VEGAS throws together hard-luck Manhattanites Jack Fuller (Kutcher) and Joy McNally (Diaz), both of whom have come to Sin City to forget their troubles. He was recently fired from his father's cabinet-making business and she was dumped by her fiance. Multiple mixed drinks lead to a shocking morning after, as Jack and Joy wake up to find they stopped off at a wedding chapel during their night of cocktail-fueled commiseration.

A quickie annulment is suggested, but when Jack wins $3 million at a slot machine -- which he played using one of Joy's quarters -- they both feel entitled to the jackpot. They take their dispute to a sadistic judge (Dennis Miller), who flattens them with one of the film's few funny lines, "Gay people aren't destroying the sanctity of marriage -- people like you are!" His cruel decree: Joy and Jack must live together for six months before either of them can claim one penny of the cash.

Tolerable without being particularly entertaining, VEGAS often turns to other movies for inspiration. It rolls out musical references to "An Affair to Remember" and "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" (as well as that legendary romantic classic FLASHDANCE) and even includes an out-of-left-field salute to Julia Roberts' SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY. Eventually, the film is reduced to making junior-high-level double-entendres about its characters' names, which is a sure sign the comedy well has run dry.

The movie relies heavily on Kutcher and Diaz working up a consistent level of flirtatious friction, but the sparks are few and fleeting. They don't seem particularly engaged by the scattershot script or even terribly interested in each other, for that matter. Perhaps they saw it as a chore they had to finish before they could go on to something more pleasant; by the end of VEGAS, you'll relate.

See more in Reviews
Reddit Reddit   Digg Digg   del.icio.us del.icio.us   Google Google   Yahoo Yahoo   Facebook Facebook
COMMENTS (0)Post a comment