Last Vegas (2013)

Too much of everything

Captivating movie !

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

In "Amusing Ourselves to Death", American writer Neil Postman wrote very briefly about how different American cities have, over time, come to represent the definitive American 'spirit' of a given era. In the wake of America's birth, it was Boston. Halfway through the nineteenth century, New York was the famous 'melting pot' while Chicago, in the early twentieth, was the city of the industrial energy and dynamism of the time. Various monuments have, by his reckoning, additionally acted as "odes" to these times - the Minuteman statue in Boston, for instance, and the Statue of Liberty as a beacon of New York's hospitality. At the time of his writing the book in 1985, Postman lamented that the Marlboro Man was, in his opinion, the 'monument' which best encapsulated America's "character" - the city of Las Vegas the locale which now best captures the American "spirit". Postman's book was ultimately about how television was 'dumbing down' or 'trivialising' America, and the effects such an invention had on everything from how Americans conduct their political discourse to how they feel about religion and themselves. "Last Vegas" proves that, thirty years on, the spirit is still alive and well. The film is about four men old enough to know better taking a trip to the Nevada hotspot in order to celebrate the fact one of them is getting married. They drink a lot of alcohol; one of them looks to have sex with another woman and they end up judging a bikini contest. The film, like the characters, seems to agree this is all a bit of a blast...The men in question are Billy; Paddy; Archie and Sam, played respectively by acting heavyweights Michael Douglas; Robert De Niro; Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline. Each has been very funny in the past, in a variety of films ranging from "Bruce Almighty" to "Meet the Parents" by way of "A Fish Called Wanda". Not so here. The gang have known one another since they were boys in a rough 1950's New York neighbourhood - scenes set at this time, with boy actors who bear close resemblances to their legendary grown up counterparts, leave you wanting much more of them, particularly by the hour mark. Billy (Douglas) is the one getting married - to a woman aged 32, which is around half his own age. "Wow!" exclaims one of his pals, before Billy does the arithmetic: "By the time she's my age, I'll be..." his friend beats him to the punch: "You'll be Dead, Billy..." I've just done some arithmetic of my own - Douglas was 25 when he married Catherine Zeta-Jones. Was there supposed to be some kind of in-joke there? If there was, did people think that would be funny? Through extraordinarily contrived circumstances, each of them manage to either slink or drag themselves away from their existing predicaments to the citadel of their national time. None of the men are in particularly good shape, with each of them nursing various physical and psychological ailments. One telephone call that begins with the statement "I've got news!", for instance, wryly induces the pessimistic response from down the other end: "Heart, cancer or prostate?" In Florida, Kevin Kline is just trying to get used to a new metal joint replacement; in Brooklyn, De Niro mopes around a pokey flat, clinically depressed over his wife's recent passing, and elsewhere, Freeman is getting sick of his son interacting with him as if he was useless now that he's old. With very little in the way of set up for any of these people, we feel very little for anyone or anything other than the De Niro character and his coping with loss when everybody arrives in Vegas. We later learn why he bears some antagonism towards the Michael Douglas character, and get to witness a narrative similar to it unfold all over again here when a lounge singer played by Mary Steenburgen is roped into a love triangle. Meanwhile, the Kline and Freeman characters become increasingly superfluous when they are not merely unpleasant - Kline's arc to do with possessing a contraception he becomes increasingly desperate to use on one of the numerous younger women around in town is especially disagreeable. When the film tries to pull the handbrake on this at the very end, in the process attempting to put across some message to do with being faithful to a lifelong marriage, we are not fooled. Jon Turteltaub seems to be perpetually in two minds as to which film he wants to make - the one about two old friends bearing a grudge and being forced to bury a hatchet is more interesting than the other one, but the film's tone shoots all over the place like a high pressure hose: one minute it is a solemn relationships drama, the next it is a raucous booze fuelled laughathon. Watching it is a little like seeing two pairs of characters from two different films who have wondered into the same picture - I can see absolutely no purpose to Kline's presence here other than to act as a beacon of sexualised humour.As before, the four headlining the film have been relatively funny in other films which have been much funnier than this, but the difference lay in the writing; the consistency in the tone and them actually having something to deliver. In the midst of everything, a really rather odd running gag is tossed in whereby De Niro gets to pretend to be a feared East Coast mobster, thus calling to mind somewhat his work in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film "Casino", which largely unfolded in Vegas. I see no real reason to recommend you see "Last Vegas" for this, or any other reason, other than to witness how the American "spirit" is still going.

Hollywood loves hi concept, loves anything shot in Vegas and loves anything with an ensemble cast especially if they are older and you can get them cheap.So this was a film they were going to make anyway, regardless of the viewers or the critics, so may as well try to enjoy it.Your humble reviewer, with over 1000 reviews on the IMDb, grew up with these guys so the experience was not as painful as it could have been. Can't say the same for anyone born after 1990 -- they might not see the magic.My notes: Mary Steenburgen is the only cast member who escapes the carnage. Dignity is her middle name, or should be. In her early 60s she is getting good roles, like this one, and her character in Justified. De Niro made a decision to try comedy some years back and he succeeds, sort off. Freeman could read the phone book and make it interesting. Kline could read a menu and make it funny. Douglas is a little lost in this film, and is mainly playing a self-caricature.All we can do is hope this is really is the last Vegas, because a sequel would be dangerous enough to alert Homeland Security.

For over 60 years, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline have been friends, since they were kids. Douglas gets the band back together for a Vegas bachelor party (he's marrying a 30 year old beauty; mid life crisis, much?), and the four try to embrace the joy of life in Sin City one last year (or is this so final?). De Niro's Paddy is seriously upset with Douglas' busy Billy Gherson (an entrepreneur in Malibu) because he didn't attend the funeral of his wife…Sophie (Paddy's wife) wanted Billy to read the eulogy, which Paddy holds him accountable for. Freeman's Archie recently had a minor stroke and his deeply concerned son is a bit overbearing in his protection of pops. Kline's Sam is actually permitted by his wife to commit adultery while in Vegas…but will he? The four meet a charming lounge singer portrayed by Mary Steenburgen (Time After Time & Back to the Future III). Douglas and De Niro both are attracted to Steenburgen. Sophie, we soon learn, wanted to be with Douglas but he felt she was meant to be with De Niro. Now the same decision once again must be confronted by Douglas who is drawn romantically (and vice versa) to Steenburgen, as De Niro admits to having interest in her (De Niro doesn't realize it until a conversation about her with Douglas that he feels the same). So there's that. Meanwhile, Archie is successful at Black Jack, with over 100 K in earnings, and this success leads to the casino offering the four old-timers a nice room in the prestigious hotel! Soon, pretty Vegas people get involved in the Bachelor party as Douglas must inevitably address whether or not he should get married when he doesn't feel actual love for his fiancé! My favorite scene has Kline in a room with a very attractive young woman offering her body to him (she tells him that maybe she should ditch the young immature men always coming on strong in favor of older gents!), having to decide if he will seal the deal or remain faithful to his wife.This film coasts on its four male leads and Steenburgen's effortless appeal. De Niro is in "grumpy old man" mode, but I like his "Sophie scenes" a great deal. I like his loyalty and respect for the woman he loved and adored, while Douglas solidifies the "old man still trying to hold onto the twenty-year-old kid of yesteryear" character, with hair implants and fake sun tan. Freeman's grandpa character is endearing, as he abandons the retired geezer status for a little fun (he has an amusing dance with numerous ladies jiving with him). Kline is my favorite of the four, with his expressions to the beauties gathered in resorts, pools, and clubs priceless. His meeting with trans-folk is a fun highlight. This is little more than 90 minutes of great actors in their twilight years enjoying themselves. The plot doesn't get too bogged down in melodrama, and the film is breezy enough. But, honestly, I will probably forget about it in a little while, because there isn't anything too challenging or requesting too much investment from us. Sometimes movies are made to give actors something to do and for their fans to just enjoy them absent quality material. This film doesn't attempt to be anything more than an entertainment to take in and discard afterward. But, if anything, the four leads work well together and share quite a congenial rapport.

I've heard this movie described as "the Hangover with senior citizens" and its four stars as "the Mount Rushmore of Acting". Both descriptions are apt. "Last Vegas" (PG-13, 1:45) brings together four men (Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline) whose average age was 71 at the time of the film's release, and who have a combined 300+ movie and TV credits to their names over careers that total about 200 years and who, as a group, have racked up over 25 Golden Globe noms (with several wins) and about 15 Oscar noms (with several more wins). These actors have starred in such iconic films as "The Godfather, Part II", Sophie's Choice", "Taxi Driver", "Driving Miss Daisy", "Wall Street", "A Fish Called Wanda", "Fatal Attraction" and "Independence Day" as well as under-appreciated gems like "The Game", "A Bronx Tale", "Seven" and "Grand Canyon". Attention should be paid.In "Last Vegas", four childhood friends get together in Sin City to throw a bachelor party for the ladies' man of the group, the last of them to finally get around to getting married. The set-up is similar 2013's "The World's End", complete with one attendee who, due to an old grudge, had to be tricked into joining the reunion. As the four men air their grievances, remember the past and worry about the future, they're working their way through a weekend in Vegas in which they make new friends (of varying ages) and figure out how to party "like it's 1959", although the calendar is working against them.This movie, with these four acting legends, and ably supported by Mary Steenburgen, Michael Ealy, Romany Malco and Roger Bart, is a good bit of fun. Jokes about aging abound, but just as those gags are about to go stale, the film shifts gears to focus more on the drama that has developed among these four men, yet still manages to work in a few more laughs here and there. It's a pleasure to see these four cinematic legends share the screen and it's obvious that they're having a great time playing these characters. There are a couple interesting plot twists along the way, which culminate in a resolution that is predictable, but heartfelt. "Last Vegas" is funny, but could have been funnier, interesting, but could have been more interesting and well-acted, although not quite award-worthy, earning, from me, a "B".