Movie Review: What Happens in Vegas

Disappointing comedy!

Title: WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
Director: Tom Vaughan
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Lake Bell and Queen Latifah
Genre: Comedy, Chick flick

What happens in Vegas is one of those total fantasy movies with completely outrageous plot. The movie starts off with a jaded looking Cameron Diaz and her friends planning a surprise birthday party for her fiancé. But her fiancé has his own plans, he comes home and before she could utter one word, he dumps her. A visibly distraught Cameron Diaz decides to take a holiday in Vegas and come back rejuvenated to her job.

At Vegas she bumps into Ashton Kutcher who has been fired from his job by his own dad and is combating depression. Both of them hit off in the casinos and in drunken stupor get married. Next morning while they are still not sure how to tackle the marriage and annul it, they come by a windfall of $3 million. Now the question is who gets the money, though both of them agree to split even, the judge plays spoilsport. In the court the judge dismisses their plea for annulment and orders them to live together for six months and get marriage counseling. If they fail in their efforts then they would be granted divorce.

The judge further says that if they stay together and show that they really tried to make it work for six months, they split the money evenly. But if one can prove that the other cheated, didn’t try to make the marriage work, quit from the marriage then, he/ she gets to keep all the money. Both Jack (Ashton) and Joy (Diaz) attempt every trick in the book to mess each other’s life so that they can claim the booty. The rest of the film is how each makes life miserable for the other and in the process fall in love with each other. Their divorce plea gets passed but they reunite and decide to get married again.

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher have delivered a good performance as bickering newly weds. Queen Latifah in her role as marriage counselor seems so out of place, even with her funny accent and seemingly authoritative postures. She needn’t have accepted such a minor role in this movie. The only merits of this movie are the numerous comedy sequences, such as when Jack removes the toilet seat because Joy tried to give him potty training. The early morning sequence when Jack pees into the kitchen sink loaded with cutlery is really gross.

The movie disappoints in several counts, first Cameron Diaz seems to have lost all her beauty. She looks skinny, tanned, dehydrated and really old; almost like Ashton’s mother. Wonder if the movie makers couldn’t afford a better make up artist or wonder if she has really become old. The screenplay is mediocre and the dialogues are just average. It is ok to watch once if you have loads of time and no other options.

I’d give it a rating of 2.5 out of five.

Check out the trailer.