Review: Last Vegas

Last Vegas is touching and funny and will resonate with an aging population who still likes going to the movies.

From left, Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman,and Michael Douglas in a scene from Last Vegas. Courtesy Gulf Film

Last Vegas

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, Morgan Freeman

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Hollywood has finally caught onto the kerching of the grey dollar, with this veteran comedy that should appeal to those who can still remember when Robert De Niro was a decent actor. Think Cocoon meets The Hangover, as a quartet of 60-something friends reunite in Las Vegas for a bachelor send-off for one of their number, the perma-tanned Billy (Michael Douglas), who is fighting off old age by marrying a girl half his years. When he calls Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline), they’re delighted to escape their aches and pains for a weekend of gentle hedonism. Trouble is, their friend Paddy (Robert De Niro), a widower wallowing in self-pity in his New York apartment, is still smarting because Billy never turned up for his wife’s funeral. Of course, Archie and Sam trick Paddy into coming to Sin City – and soon enough he and Billy are at war, including over Mary Steenburgen’s Vegas torch singer.

Directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure), Last Vegas sounds like a dreadful idea, but there’s enough decorum and drama amid the Viagra gags to keep you interested. Plus it helps when the quartet of male stars have six Oscars and 15 nominations between them. Kline is the standout performer; his comedic timing has dulled not one iota with age. Only De Niro, saddled with yet more Mafiosi jokes in one of the script’s less inventive strands, seems below par. But mostly, the wrinkles here all come from laughter lines – and not the passage of time.