All five of the stars in this movie have won Oscars. Gamble on Last Vegas.
Last Vegas (Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen) – Call it Ocean’s 5. I so wanted to dislike this bachelor party reunion trip through geriatrics. But I didn’t. I figured that the four actors playing Billy (Douglas), Paddy (De Niro), Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline), were just looking for an easy payday and would “phone in” their performances. But this buddy flick, while frivolous and predictable, was entertaining, quick-paced, and not all comedy. Friends since they were kids, the four live their lonely lives with little more than their phone calls to keep them vibrant.
Billy has always been the gang-leader, the troublemaker, the “player.” Sam is married and caught in a humdrum existence in south Florida with a bunch of old people like himself. But he has an aching libido and a wife who gives him a pass for his Vegas trip (“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” she say.). Archie has lots of medical conditions and an over-protective son, who he dupes into thinking he is going on a church retreat. Paddy is the saddest of the lot, having lost his wife in the last year. His spirit has essentially died. And while Paddy stays in touch with Archie and Sam, he is estranged from Billy for reasons that serve as the heart of the film.
The boys have reunited for Billy’s wedding to a woman less than half his age despite a life as a bachelor. He is cocky and glib but that hides his latent insecurity and loneliness. The guys know it. Enter the female interest, a retired attorney (Steenburgen) who now sings in the usually empty lounge in a casino in downtown Vegas. In the unlikeliest of plot turns, she ends up heading up the Strip with the guys and centers the movie. The film didn’t need her as anything other than a plot mover. To her credit, Steenburgen looks great at 60. Quick, list the guys from oldest to youngest.
Anyway, there is nothing to hate about Last Vegas. The actors make it interesting and heartwarming. They are all 66 or older and prove that, even as you age, you don’t have to give up living. Five Academy Award winners are worth spending your money on even if there won’t be an Oscar to be found in Last Vegas.
(The answer is Freeman, De Niro, Douglas, and Kline – oldest to youngest.)