What Happens in Vegas: Critic Reviews

Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz hate on each other with dynamite verve in What Happens in Vegas.

What Happens in Vegas, one of those junky time-wasters that routinely pop up in movie theaters, won't make you laugh much or at all.

What Happens in Vegas refuses to take a gamble. Like a bleary-eyed gambler repeatedly tossing a pair of dice, it tiredly goes through the motions.

Not that What Happens in Vegas is any kind of great movie, but it's an exceedingly bright comedy that never makes you feel stupid for enjoying its brisk pacing, smart lines, sound construction and superb comic acting.

When it was over I felt vaguely embarrassed. I wasn't just leaving a movie theater. I was taking a walk of shame.

While Diaz and Kutcher make their cliched characters as likable as possible, you can bet on this: Any movie named after an already-stale ad campaign isn't likely to gamble on the unexpected.

What Happens in Vegas... should have stayed in development -- forever. This ramshackle -- and occasionally repulsive -- farce doesn't even deliver on the minimal promise of its title; most of it takes place in Manhattan.

Who knew the title wasn't simply clever (inviting the rejoiner 'stays in Vegas') but a dire warning of a bad movie ahead?

Though likely not a film you'll remember a month after seeing it, it does hit most of the right notes for a good date flick.

So many things, small and large, erode any sense of fun here. The movie looks like crud -- like it, too, stayed up and drank all night.

The felicitous pairing of Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher overcomes the mechanical setup of this amiable screwball comedy about mismatched Manhattanites who wed in Las Vegas following a drunken first date.

What Happens in Vegas . . . boasts the not inconsiderable appeal of good-looking people having a good time -- even while having a bad time.

By being a smidge smarter than the average date movie, it makes the first-time meeting, the battle of the sexes and the bumpy course of true love entertaining despite overfamiliarity.

Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz almost pull off Vegas despite everything. And there's quite a bit of everything.

What Happens in Vegas . . . should have stayed in Vegas. Or in New York, where most of this predictable, uninspired film takes place. Or in Hollywood, where such lamebrained ideas are hatched.

There are no big surprises, and only a handful of unexpected developments. But Kutcher and Diaz are undeniably appealing...nd the scene-stealing supporting players...go about their petty larceny with amusing adroitness.

For an idea of the level of wit, several gags are built around the name 'Dick Banger'.

Screenwriter Dana Fox (the dreadful Wedding Date was hers) and director Tom Vaughan can't find much fun or romance in this. What Happens in Vegas ... offers none of the surprises that screen comedy so desperately needs.

Here's a romantic comedy that is goofy, highly implausible, sometimes over the top, often in bad taste, and resolutely empty-headed. In short, it's the best example of its genre to appear on the screen this year.

I didn't laugh much, and I never felt even an inkling of 'aw, cute!' romance -- but I didn't want to claw my eyes out, either. If that counts as a success, then I guess it's a hit.

What Happens in Vegas should damn well have stayed in Vegas. Instead, the thing has leaked out as a movie that, one grey morning this week, swiped 100 minutes from my life.

You'd think the combination of Diaz, Kutcher and Vegas would be good for at least a little sexy, silly fun. But don't bet on it.

Sadly, about the nicest thing I can say about What Happens in Vegas is that I didn't hate it -- although I suppose that's something.

Full-contact marital warfare connects with every body part save the funny bone.

What happens in Vegas is exactly what you would expect: It's formulaic, slapsticky, silly and loud, until it goes all gooey in the end.