On the Big Board |
Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
25/98 |
David Mumpower |
I'm indifferent to Kutcher and can't stand Diaz, so I was surprised by how charismatic I found them as a tandem. Movie plays like an above average episode of Friends. |
89/196 |
Max Braden |
I laughed a few times, mostly at Kutcher. |
A new film written by Dana Fox doesn’t exactly excite the typical moviegoer. In 2005, The Wedding Date was released to very little fanfare. Starring Debra Messing as a single New Yorker who hires an escort to play her boyfriend, the romantic comedy earned just $31.7 million at the domestic box office. And let’s not forget about the critics who, in a word, hated the film. Fox was completely lambasted for a predictable plot, stiff characters and just a generally unfunny film.
Enter Fox's sophomore effort, What Happens in Vegas. Set in Sin City, the film stars Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz as strangers who discover two very important things following a drunken night of fornication: Not only are they now married, but one of them won a huge sum of money playing with the other’s quarter. Yawn.
If anything, at least the film’s casting appears to be quite strong. Alongside Kutcher and Diaz are Lake Bell, probably best known for being that girl from NBC’s short-lived 2005 drama Surface, and Rob Corddry, an alumnus of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
And it’s a plus to see Kutcher appearing in a comedy for the first time in years, save for his voice work in the 2006 animated comedy Open Season. Though What Happens In Vegas won’t be as silly as My Boss’s Daughter or Just Married - and definitely not as bizarre as Dude, Where’s My Car? - Kutcher was nevertheless born to do comedy, so expect him to flourish here. And the same can be said of Diaz, who was absolutely delightful in My Best Friend’s Wedding and, of course, There’s Something About Mary. What Diaz and Kutcher need, though, is a promising script. (Eric Hughes/BOP)
|
|
|
|