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Monday, March 17, 2014

Last Vegas (2013)

This is the 70 year old version of "Hangover", and while at 54 I am about equidistant between the characters in the two movies, I better relate to the old guys.  These are actors playing men their own age, but they are very fit, despite the story of their decrepitude.  They spring about with style that I can only hope to aspire to in 15 years.

The reason they are in Vegas goes like this.  Billy (Michael Douglas) is a millionaire bachelor who is getting married for the very first time.  He organized the bachelor parties of his three closest childhood friends, and they insist on doing the same for him.  Archie (Morgan Freeman) is recovering from a stroke, Sam (Kevin Kline) just had a knee replacement, and Paddy (Robert DeNiro) is mourning the death of his wife of 50 plus years.  They are not what you would call party animal material, but all that changes when they hit Sin City.  Archie hits it big at the blackjack table (I do not understand why Billy isn't bankrolling the whole weekend, but it is nice to have a source of the cash that flows freely from then on), and they manage to get into the spirit of the time and the place without seeming unrealistic.  They meet Diana (Mary Steenburgen), who manages to capture Billy's imagination and his heart (which was not actually up for grabs, since he is there to get married to someone else, but no one regrets the child bride he was going to marry getting jilted at the alter).

This is not a deep movie.  Despite the fact that all four actors put in very good performances and the script is reasonable, you are meant to forget about it entirely when the credits start rolling.  But it is a very pleasant diversion, especially for those of us who don't see blacking out and risking your life as a part of the fun of Vegas.

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