Star Power is very important to a lot of Hollywood movies. Famous names usually guarantee a lot of people wanting to head to the cinema. Looking at Last Vegas it has heaps of them: Morgan Freeman, Robert de Niro, Michael Douglas and Kevin Kline. These men are all Oscar winners, so no reason to doubt their acting abilities. As these men are all getting older it is not a strange choice to make a comedy which makes fun of their age. Other older actors have done the same in the past (examples are Al Pacino and Christopher Walken in Stand Up Guys, but also the fatehr of Michael Douglas did this in Tough Guys in 1986). Do these men succeed in providing the laughs?
Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert de Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) have been friends for more than 58 years and are still talking to each other. They don’t live close to each other anymore and each man has his own troubles. Paddy stays home because he keeps grieving about his deceased wife, Archie is not allowed to do anything by his son because he has had a stroke and Sam’s life in Florida is as boring as his relationship. It seems that only Billy is still enjoying life to the fullest. When he decides to marry in Las Vegas (with his much younger girlfriend) his friends decide to head to the city as well to organise a bachelor party. They meet up and run into a singer named Diana (Mary Steenburgen) who they immediately can get along with and who is able to show them around Las Vegas.
On a scale from zero to hilarious this was slightly amusing. Last Vegas simply does not have enough funny moments and is so predictable that weathermen are jealous watching it. It is so safe that car manufacturers use it to improve their vehicles. The actors are good and it was nice to see these men working together, but when an episode of Friends manages more laughs in half an hour than this does in feature-length form there is not a lot to save by great acting. If you are expecting something like The Hangover with a crazy bachelor party or anything close you might be very disappointed.
Good review Nostra. The material itself is pretty crummy and is just begging for a “straight-to-DVD” release. However, with the cast of all-stars involved, it’s at least four times better than what it could have been, had it not had these legends starring in it.
Thanks a lot Dan. It could have been a straight-to-DVD release. Do not think the stars add much to the film.
I hadn’t heard anything good about this one. Pity. Great cast. It should be a lot better than a 4. When it comes to cable, we’ll watch it.
That would be the right time to check it out.
Good review Nostra. I was hoping for a slightly more positive opinion of it but I’m not surprised either.
Well, you might get more out of it than I did Mark!
Ouch. A “Friends” comparison ain’t good….. Might check this out if I have nothing else to watch one day….
There is some entertainment value, but not as much as I had hoped.
Was looking forward to this for the cast alone. Shame you didn’t like it Nostra – seems to be the general consensus at the moment.
Me as well, but it really disappointed me unfortunately…
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