This movie features four Oscar winners among its cast, the characters they incarnate have all some positive aspects and in general are likeable, the story is a conventional one and runs at a very fast pace. However, “Last Vegas” has basically a predictable plot, with many clichés, and with some implicit moralizing that sounds somehow hollow.
“Last Vegas” is directed by Jon Turteltaub and the story starts with Billy (Michael Douglas) who is at funeral eulogizing some old friend of his and in the middle of his speech he decides to ask his much younger girlfriend to marry him. From that moment on the old theme of an older man marrying a thirty-something woman would be repeated over and over until it gets really boring.
Billy’s wedding is then set for Las Vegas, and that is also the occasion for their long-term friends Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) to think of staging the biggest bachelor’s party ever. There is one problem though, there is a fourth friend whose beloved wife has recently passed away and who also has had a quarrel with Billy, Paddy (Robert De Niro) reluctantly joins in, and it seems that amid the colourful and festive atmosphere of Las Vegas the old friends would be having the best of times, just when because of their age this may perhaps be the last opportunity for such joyful encounters.
But things would get complicated when the presence of Diana (Mary Steenburgen), an attractive— although not so young— singer in the hotel where they stay, would in turn catch the eye of two of the old friends.
From there the story makes various turns showing Archie’s luck at the casino, Sam’s determination to have sex with some young woman (for which he even has the permission of his wife), and the tests that the friendship between Billy and Paddy must endure.
“Last Vegas” may be of interest to those who may like the main actors (there are people who see movies for the actors or actresses who are in), those who may like some light comedy with an ending that would reaffirm their “family values” and of course those who may not have anything better to do with their money or their time. For the rest, it is not recommendable.
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