Tuesday has come around yet again, tonight we are settling down with a recent film, well recent DVD / Blu-ray release anyway. From 2013 and starring Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline, we present;
Last Vegas
Well we have been waiting to see this one since it came out at the cinema and we missed it. And it was worth waiting for. Last Vegas is like The Hangover for pensioners! However, it is a lot more than that, what's it all about? Well let us fill in some detail.
Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline star as Billy, Paddy, Archie and Sam, four best friends from childhood who grew up together, forming their own gang who would stick together through thick and thin. Roll forward 58 years and their lives have changed. Billy is due to get married to a girl half his age. Archie has had a stroke. Sam is living the old aged Florida life, waiting for death and Paddy is mourning the loss of his wife and is still annoyed that Billy never came to the funeral. Based on those facts the story begins. Billy calls up the boys (except Paddy) to announce his forthcoming wedding. Archie and Sam are determined to get away from their staid and stale existence and throw a bachelor party in Vegas for Billy, all they need to do is to convince Paddy to come along.
And that's about it for the basic opening gambit of this touching story of friends, friendship, loyalty and love. A lot of people, us included, have suggested that Last Vegas is The Hangover on Viagra, but it isn't really. The Hangover is anarchic, erratic, wacky humour, Last Vegas is more mellow, mature and moralistic. All of which is a good thing, it takes the irreverence of a bachelor party and belies it with an undercurrent of moral fibre, adding weight to a fun story, but without stealing the laughs at the same time. And there are laughs a plenty. It's more dialogue based humour than slapstick, relying on the first rate acting skills of the quadrumvirate of male stars. Allied to this four cornered male plot line, we have an older woman to provide a love interest as well as a sideline plot, yes indeed when the guys eventually get to Vegas, they bump into cabaret singer Diana played by the gorgeous, delightful and thoroughly delectable Mary Steenburgen. (A keen favourite here at TNiFN Towers).
The film naturally falls into three parts; the setup and travel to Vegas; the party section where then fun begins, but where also some twists are wrung out of the plot. Finally the movie is rounded off with the ending where those twists are straightened out and the loose ends that get frayed in the middle section are tidied up.
Yes it does follow the feelgood film formula. And yes, it does so in a standardised way, but it follows the formula with a brilliantly written script, which is wonderfully delivered with energy and verve by our oldie actors, but also with beautifully timed irreverence, alongside solemnity and pathos where the story dictates.
That might be over egging the pudding somewhat, but Last Vegas just seems to tick a lot of boxes, albeit the boxes we here at TNiFN tend to define in our choice of films.
If we are to look at individual performances, we would have to pick out Morgan Freeman as being just so cool and perfect for Archie. Michael Douglas does a great job of almost sending himself up with his very orange tan, (he makes David Dickinson look pale!) his very white teeth and dyed hair, which were all a necessity to make sure that the successful and rich Billy was portrayed by Douglas with the correct persona. Keven Kline was great as Sam, providing a lot of the laughs with his Viagra fulled antics. And of course Robert De Niro played the gruff, dour Paddy as only De Niro can. Mary Steenburgen just lights up the screen almost without effort and is always a delight to watch.
So there you go. A cracking little movie, oh yes, a cracking little movie. Watch it!
TNiFN Rating 83%
IMDB Link
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