After I saw the trailer for “What Happens in Vegas,” I didn’t really need to see the movie itself. All the major plot points were already outlined.
But I saw the movie anyway, and it is, well, longer than the trailer. In case you haven’t seen the trailer yourself, here are the basics.
Newly unemployed Jack (Ashton Kutcher) meets newly jilted Joy (Cameron Diaz) during a weekend in Las Vegas. Roaring drunk, they get married, then politely decide to go their separate ways when the fog clears in the morning.
Complication: Jack puts Joy’s quarter in a slot machine, which coughs up a $3 million jackpot. Now mortal enemies, they sue each other, but a snarky judge sentences them to live together for six months and see if they can work it out.
You will not be surprised that each combatant has a wisecracking best friend: Jack has Rob Corddry (who needs to stop playing the oafish best buddy) and Joy has Lake Bell. Their chemistry is half-hearted, to put it mildly.
That’s more than can be said for the rest of the picture, which is way overdone. Every joke is telegraphed, and then punched home. And if you didn’t quite get it, as in a scene involving Joy’s bowl of popcorn and Jack’s sweatpants, someone will point it out in dialogue.
Even Cameron Diaz’s tan is overdone. One worries about the supply of bronzer in Hollywood.
The spat between the marrieds plays like an episode of Kutcher’s “Punk’d” show, with Jack and Joy playing idiotic tricks on each other. Ah, but there’s a message to it all.
You see, Joy just needed to loosen up and let a little fun in her life — even her stockbroker boss (Dennis Farina) notices her new attitude. And Jack must learn to finish what he starts, a lesson his father (Treat Williams) has always tried to teach him.
Poor Queen Latifah is mysteriously enlisted to act as the marriage counselor for these two, a role that could have been played by any garden-variety TV actor.
The two leads have been better elsewhere, leaving the whole project with the metallic aftertaste of a studio package. Let’s hope this isn’t the bellwether for comedies this summer.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
