I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
Jack (Ashton Kutcher) and Joy (Cameron Diaz) meet each other while drowning their sorrows on a drunken night in Vegas (He’s just been fired by his father, she’s just been dumped by her corporate bore of a boyfriend). They wake up with a splitting headache, finding themselves married to each other and discovering that they’re none too pleased about it. After a painless decision to get divorced as soon as possible, matters are complicated when Jack wins three million dollars from a slot machine by using Joy’s quarter.
If that’s not unbelievable enough already, just wait for the courtroom scene with the judge who commands them to say married for six months just because he doesn’t like how they are destroying the sanctity of marriage. And, if you’re not yet rolling your eyes in disbelief, wait for the moment when Joy turns down one and a half million dollars on principle. We need some sort of believable structure for the comedy to be attached to, but What Happens in Vegas is just one long unlikely conceit.
At least Cameron and Ashton look like they’re having fun. Neither seem like people we know, just two oddly alienated good-looking excuses for real humans, but they fit together as a pair. Events play out with timed precision, and before long that happy ending hits us. We’re expected to cheer, I’m sure, but I couldn’t care less.
Director Tom Vaughan, who previously made Cold Feet and Starter For Ten, leaves no discernable stamp on his American feature debut. This rom com is inoffensively mundane. Will appeal to some before disappearing into the black hole at the back of the video store.
By Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz
Withing the first 10 minutes I had shaken off the gloom of a cold and windy Sunday afternoon. I was faced with realistic scenes of a night on the plonk and relived the horrors of the morning after the night. Laughs were witty and fast coming within the first quarter but did dry up when the story really started to come together. A bit slow through the middle but a good lighthearted put a smile on the dial kind of movie.
Believe me. This is that highly annoying DVD your girlfriend gets out, which you warn - just from the look of the cover - will be real bad. But she gets it anyway, and sure enough it's rubbish. Trust your instincts.
1/2 The latest crime against romance (and tourism in Nevada) is this stunningly unfunny tale of when Joy (Cameron Diaz) met Jack (Ashton Kutcher). A New York stock trader, Joy is well known for making a plan to make plans.
Darker shades are swerved, subtlety snubbed, and invention avoided, as director Tom Vaughn, who got going with Starter For Ten, reveals no sign whatsoever of developing into an interesting director. So predictable are his moves, you’ll think you’ve developed a cinematic sixth sense: ‘I see punchlines’.
This isn't a typical sweet and sugary yawn-inducing love story, this is more a bitch-slapping battle of the sexes aimed as much at guys as girls.
Sadly, about the nicest thing I can say about What Happens in Vegas is that I didn't hate it - although I suppose that's something.
1/2 Knowing where the box office gravy train is heading doesn't have to stop you enjoying the journey, but this film just wasn't fresh enough to make it worth the trip.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 8th May 2008.
Release date: May 8th 2008.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
