Last Vegas

This review may contain spoilers.

I have never had a comedy that allowed me to feel such a satisfying rollercoaster ride of emotions quite in the way this movie had me. I would give Last Vegas a 7.5/10.

Last Vegas is a perfect display of comedy with a plot that would satisfy the drama genre as well, and it pulls it off spectacularly. This movie is incredibly wellpaced and knows it's own tone and how to set it throughout. I really enjoyed how the costumes were done in this film, the mixture of old and new fashion in relation to parties and Vegas were superb. I also loved the music, the combination of the old and the new. It's truly a comedy that sets a mark.

I loved Michael Douglas, who played Billy, in this film, he had such a serious role and he became the scenario of the comedy and he had a heart to him that led to a monologue that almost made me cry; normally I would hate that in a comedy but it worked here. Kevin Kline, who played Sam, I didn't really know going into this film but I came out loving him, he just stole the show with his immature antics. However it was Morgan Freeman, who played Archie, that really owned this movie as far as immature antics and memorable moments go.

However above all else I'd like to give special mention to Robert De Niro, who played Paddy. De Niro has been getting flak from critics for his role in this film and I believe that to be because of his role that wasn't inherently comedic but it added to the dramatic subplot of the film and took away from the comedy genre. To those critics I say wake up. Wake up because De Niro had a role in this film that was a polar opposite to the rest of his cast members and he portrayed it superbly. The comedy genre is evolving nowadays, the idea of a story being original is important now more than ever and the dramatic subplot heightened it for me. So bravo I say.

However this film was let down by it's weak supporting cast. I didn't have a strong connection to the female lead Diana, played by Mary Steenburgen, who was flat and not very interesting onscreen. I also think they gave too much attention to Jerry Ferrara, who played Dean, he wasn't as interesting as the script demanded his character to be nor was he as necessary. I also didn't like Romany Malco, who played Lonnie, he had one expression and one attitude throughout the film and quickly became a background novelty confined to one 50 Cent joke.