‘LAST VEGAS’ – A Winning Bet, If You Know What To Expect!
When Hollywood produces a film about a group of men heading to Las Vegas for a stag party weekend, it’s only natural that ‘THE HANGOVER‘ comparisons aren’t far behind. Against its outrageous predecessor, ‘LAST VEGAS‘ moves like a fine, beautifully aged wine.
With a cast as golden as this one, I wouldn’t expect any less. CBS Films certainly brought in the heavyweights for this picture.
It features:
Robert De Niro – Paddy
Michael Douglas – Billy
Morgan Freeman – Archie
Kevin Kline – Sam
The four A-listers balance their performances together well, and Mary Steenburgen’s portrayal of a lawyer turned lounge singer is sexy and strong. Jerry Ferrera and Romany Malco also hold their own as relatively new faces on the silver screen.
The plot simply and gracefully moves through the story of four friends who gather in Vegas to celebrate the first marriage of Billy (Douglas), whose gorgeous bride-to-be is less than half his age. I second guessed my excitement to see the film when I walked in to the cinema and observed that I was the only audience member (of a crowd around 100) who still had rich colour in my hair.
Ageism is the film’s front running theme, and the jokes surrounding it are plentiful. In fact, the opening launches right in to a pool scene at a retirement community in Naples, Florida (a city that was once notorious for being the elderly capital of the state). After the director’s comical use of close-ups underwater, I relaxed and knew I was in for a treat.
What I didn’t anticipate was how moving the film’s secondary theme – lifelong friendship – would be. As it slowly connects all the scenes together, it also resonates the loudest at the end. Again, this works so well because iconic actors are delivering a brilliantly written screenplay that doesn’t focus on shock value for entertainment.
The soundtrack was another surprise. While ‘LAST VEGAS‘ doesn’t feature the dramatic, slap-stick gimmicks of ‘THE HANGOVER‘, it does have a slammin’ youthful vibe in its music. In fact, at times I wondered if my elder audience members appreciated the cameo appearances made by some of the music industry’s hottest artists. On that note, I will say the second pool scene in the movie is perhaps one of the best I’ve seen, and it truly depicts the party rockin’ atmosphere of a Las Vegas pool.
I never tired of the prescription medication and hip-replacement jokes, and I had some great giggles at the one-liners targeting my generation. Perhaps the best was when Morgan Freeman’s character declares that drinking Red Bull and vodka in ‘da club makes him feel like he is “getting drunk and electrocuted at the same time.” Well played.
One of the few lines that isn’t a joke is the tagline- “It’s going to be legendary.”
And like Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis JR, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop… it absolutely is.
‘LAST VEGAS is now in U.S. cinemas, and it will be released in the UK from the 3rd January, 2014!
