“What Happens in Vegas” is not anywhere near as exciting as Vegas.

Your movie loses credibility by taking it’s name from an advertising campaign. After seeing this picture, you gained some credibility back because it appears Cameron Diaz could beat the crap out of me.



We silently stare at the digital sign in front of the theater perusing the list of movies. I was happy with the options we had. It’s not the middle of March, so there are a lot of things that I’d want to see. Heck there are some movies that I’d be willing to see for a second time (Iron Man.) I don’t want to force my opinions, and I want to be a gentleman. So I break the silence, “Anything jump out at you as a must see?” “No, nothing I MUST see.” Silence again. After a few seconds I go with the age-old tactic of naming options. It makes the other person feel like I contributed to the decision making process while the actual responsibility for the choice lies with them.

As I name off the movies on the list, I say “No desire” “I’d see that” or “Looks great”. After naming 4-5 movies in the “I’d see that” or “Looks great” categories I get to the bottom of the list; “What happens in Vegas” I give this one a tentative “I’d see that”. I even gave it an “ehhhhhhhh” before I put it in the maybe category to verbalize my hesitation. Normally I’d say “No Desire” but I wanted to give her plenty of options. She then speaks up and says with enthusiasm “Oh, let’s see that!”

This is my fault, I did this to myself. Sitting in the theater I began to question her judgment. As the movie starts I brace myself for the worst. What I ended up getting was ok. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t horrible. It was kind of like eating McDonalds. It’s not bad, but it’s not the best either. It was a C; just average. Unfortunately, some of the laughs were ruined by the all too revealing previews. It was the most tolerable I’ve found Ashton Kutcher to be since his role in “That 70’s Show.” In my opinion Rob Corddry stole the show, I am pretty sure without him the movie would have been a complete failure.

So, my recommendation is to speak honestly about whether or not you want to see this or any movie for that matter. But if you get swindled, bribed or bamboozled into a theater playing this movie, take heart because it isn’t that bad. It isn’t, run out and see it good, but it isn’t bad either. When it comes to box office, it’s better than Speed Racer two weeks in a row, but then again Speed Racer is not average… it’s HORRIBLE! And I wanted to go see Speed Racer that night, so clearly my judgment is suspect, not hers.