The blissful thing about ignorance

What Happens in Vegas
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher
Director: Tom Vaughan
*

A War of the Roses type of romantic comedy that takes the thin line approach to love and hate, What Happens in Vegas follows the time honored tradition of shadowing two antagonists, Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) and Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) who eventually end up falling in love, in spite of their innumerable differences!

Jack Fuller is a rootless slacker and also conveniently commitment phobic. Joy McNally, is as ambitious as they come, a Wall Street investment broker who lives by her strict schedule. Both go to Vegas to escape from the mercilessness of life in New York and end up sharing the same suite along with their respective buddies, Hater (Rob Corddry) and Tipper (Lake Bell) And just as expected, after some charmless encounters both couples are in love. Phew! Give us a break from such trite formulaic nonsense.

The characters are never believable. They are so cartoonish in behaviour that they are almost laughable, but not quite. There are very few laughs to be had. The coupling encounters that we are subjected to are the kind that even an unimaginative writer would do better with. The tone of the film is constantly shrill, there is no complexity in the drama nor is there any chemistry between the lead pair. In fact Hater and Tipper appear much more interesting and amusing. Director Tom Vaughan appears to have lost the plot in this one.