What Happens in Vegas

A new take on the old accidental marriage in Vegas after a night of too much free alcohol, but still catchy enough to create a good-enough story for an audience seeking some light entertainment. When virtual strangers, Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) and Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) awake in a Vegas hotel, they soon discover that they are man and wife. Familiarity seems to have bred all kinds of contempt and the two immediately launch into a relationship built on dislike. And that would have resulted in a standard annulment procedure had not Jack borrowed one quarter from Joy, won a huge slot jackpot and thoroughly complicated the whole relationship. There in lies the rest of the movie.

Kutcher fans will be more than pleased with this movie. His role is true to his usual film persona and is easy watching for those who relish the romantic comedy genre. It’s the rest of you who will be looking at your watches about mid-way through the story. But the good news for the restless is that the movie is just a few minutes past the one and one-half hour minimum set by today’s standards. Fluff, with a payout for some, if you don’t expect too much you may leave the theater satisfied. 

Mary K. Morgan is a member of the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association.