Make it last
When an old friend finally announces that he is ready to settle down with a woman young enough to his granddaughter, his friends are nothing short of excitement as they get ready for the bachelor party of their lives.
Last Vegas
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writer: Dan Fogelman
Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen
Runtime: 105 minutes
Certification: 12A
When an old friend finally announces that he is ready to settle down with a woman young enough to his granddaughter, his friends are nothing short of excitement as they get ready for the bachelor party of their lives. Now that they’re all over the age of 70, even in Vegas they need to play it safe. There are pills to be taken, blood pressure to watch and bed times to adhere to. Are they getting too old for this shit? Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline certainly don’t think so.
Billy (Douglas) is the one getting married, Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline) are the best friends looking forward to a fun weekend away hoping to recapture their youth, and Paddy (De Niro) has some personal beef with Douglas and the two haven’t been on speaking terms for a long time. What happened between the two? Well the drama that exists between the two of them end up becoming the best aspect of the film, as a touching background story is revealed.
The trouble with Last Vegas is when it’s trying too hard to be funny. Self-deprecating jokes all related to how eveyrone has aged are as old as the actors themselves, and whatever banter that wants to take place between the acting veterans never fully materialises. Archie has haemorrhoids, Sam has been given a free weekend pass by his wife who says what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas whilst handing him a condom and Viagra, Paddy is a miserable, grumpy old man who doesn’t want to have fun especially after the death of his beloved wife, and Billy is deluding himself into thinking that the girl he’s about to marry is doing so out of love for him and not his bank balance.
All typical storylines, but things take a turn for the preposterous when Mary Steenburgen appears. Diana is an aged lounge singer who’s following her dreams to...well...sing. She does a great job, and catches the eyes of both Billy and Paddy, something that will put an even bigger strain between the two men.
In fact, it’s Steenburgen’s contribution to the film that elevates the quality of the film. As absurd as her sub-plot may be, her intelligent, witty conversations with the two men provide a lot of the laughs and her wise, kind words some poignancy.
The four actors can for sure act there is no doubt about it, and it’s not difficult to picture the four of them as best of friends going all the way back to their childhood. But in a script that chooses to dump them in Vegas with very little to actually do, not even the exntensive star quality on display here can distract from that. What a missed, wasted opportunity.
