Last Vegas (M)
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★★★
The presence of four veteran Oscar-winning stars helps make this amiable but synthetic comedy more enjoyable than it really had a right to be.
Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) have been best friends since their childhood days as "The Flatbush Four".
Now they're in their 60s and life has taken its toll – divorced Archie has had a stroke and lives with his son. Sam's marriage is stale, and Paddy is still depressed over the death of his wife a year before. When eternal bachelor Billy phones them with the news he is finally getting married – to a woman young enough to be his daughter – the others travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor weekend before the wedding.
It's a time for reflections and shenanigans, many of which are predictable and some just a bit silly. The bikini contest is foolish and the cutesy reversals of expectation in a scene become a bit annoying.
But there are moments that work, comedically and dramatically and it's possible to have enjoyable, undemanding time and to wish just a bit that this was something more worthy of the talent of its four stars.
The only DVD extra is a commentary (unpreviewed) – the Blu-ray has more.
RON CERABONA