downloadable movies
ABOUT THE MOVIE
What Happens in Vegas
* * (out of four)
Stars:
Director:
Distributor:
Rating:
Running time:
Opens Friday nationwide
By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY Apparently what passes for comedy today is a new conformation of toilet humor involving the creative use of sinks.
What Happens in Vegas has a discrepancy of a joke featured in Baby Mama, as well as a slew of stale riffs upon the body gags and scenarios from a number of comedies, mostly of the romantic variety. It’s a story that feels familiar at best, hackneyed at worst, that is surprising and disappointing, as director Tom Vaughan also made last year’s Starter for 10, a charming British coming-of-age comedy.
CLIP: Find out what does happen in ‘Vegas’
There are some funny scenes that bring to mind 1989’s War of the Roses. But more often this feels like a by-the-book romantic comedy, especially by the time it reaches its predictable conclusion.
Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz star as a mismatched couple who meet cute in Las Vegas, get rip-roaringly drunk and tie the knot. Though the two are appealing enough, the ditzy Diaz is miscast as an uptight commodities trader. Their respective best friends, Rob Corddry and Lake Bell, are responsible for most of the bigger laughs.
The Vegas segment involves variations on the theme of humiliating debauchery. Kutcher and Diaz are consigned to the same room, booze is guzzled, inhibitions disappear and they wake up married. Sobered up the next morning, they have power to’t stand the sight of each other.
Beyond devising outlandish ways to bicker and fight, there’s not much that be possible to be done with this premise. So the ante is upped when Kutcher tosses Diaz’s quarter into a slot machine and hits the jackpot. one and the other party insists the $3 million is theirs and turns to a court to adjudicate the winnings.
Judge Whopper (Dennis Miller) sentences the couple to “six months of unfeeling marriage.” He holy orders the two to see a marriage counselor (Queen Latifah), and some of the pair’s funnier moments together are on her couch.
The humor in the squabbling of unhappily married people has been mined to death in movies and on TV. And the indignities of heavy drinking haven’t lacked for depiction. So there’s really nothing new here, except for the specific actors doing the coupling and imbibing. And they’re perfect for each other.
But the rule of romantic comedies requires that couples meet, have a falling uncovered, break up, miss each other and end up simultaneously.
And What Happens in Vegas refuses to take a practise gaming. Like a bleary-eyed gambler repeatedly tossing a pair of dice, it tiredly goes through the motions.
Audiences are left with a mediocre movie that takes no chances and relies on the luck of previous players.
To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. 
Enlarge 20th Century Fox