We all have the same experience every Monday: It's the first working day of the week, you're feeling super blue. You sit in the office for 10 or so hours and yet you have not picked up the pace just yet. Nothing significant was achieved in a whole day's work. When you finally dragged your tired body home and after having a good shower and dinner, you just wanted to lie on your sofa (or bed), watch a crappy movie to make your day seemed a little less crappy. Somehow, you ended up enjoying the supposedly crappy movie a lot.
Girls just want to have fun, sings Cyndi Lauper. So did four senior men, four senior Oscar-winning men. Very often actors pick movies that will win them awards, but what if you already won tons of awards, and you don't need to prove your credibility anymore? You can afford to loosen yourself a bit (or in this case, a lot) and make some crazy movies just for fun.
That's what Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline did. They made a fun movie that I'm sure none of them thought would be critically acclaimed when they read the script. I don't think the notion of this being The Hangover for the seniors escaped their minds, but for the sake of fun (And cash too, I'm sure. What? You think they cut their pay for this film? No way! If anything established actors like them would demand even higher pay to star in a movie destined to be rubbish.) they made the film anyway.
The plot is simple: Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman)
and Sam (Kevin Kline) have been best friends since childhood. So when
Billy, the group's sworn bachelor, finally proposes to his
thirty-something (of course) girlfriend, the four head to Las Vegas with
a plan to stop acting their age and relive their glory days. However,
upon arriving, the four quickly realize that the decades have
transformed Sin City and tested their friendship in ways they never
imagined. The Rat Pack may have once played the Sands and Cirque du
Soleil may now rule the Strip, but it's these four who are taking over
Vegas.
Michael Douglas is no stranger to playing rich playboy, so his performance in this film does not surprise us too much. Among the four, I would rank him as the least stretched. He's just playing another version of his characters from many of his previous films (or perhaps even in real life). Similarly, Kevin Kline starred in many comedies previously so the Kevin Kline we see in this film is also a familiar one. Perhaps because he's a comedian that I feel compared to the others there's a lack of surprise element.
Robert De Niro was in a few comedies before, but to me the Meet the Parents series and Analyze This series are both no fun... or at least he was not responsible for the fun part (that would be Ben Stiller and Billy Crystal). But in this film, there's something about his character being grumpy about everything that makes me laugh so hard. He was ever so cool and calm in most of his drama films, so it's funny seeing this side of him. But the one surprised me the most is Morgan Freeman. I have never seen this well-respected actor having so much fun before. He's the lose canon here, and everything he does in this film opens up our eyes to a brand new Morgan Freeman.
Michael Douglas is no stranger to playing rich playboy, so his performance in this film does not surprise us too much. Among the four, I would rank him as the least stretched. He's just playing another version of his characters from many of his previous films (or perhaps even in real life). Similarly, Kevin Kline starred in many comedies previously so the Kevin Kline we see in this film is also a familiar one. Perhaps because he's a comedian that I feel compared to the others there's a lack of surprise element.
Robert De Niro was in a few comedies before, but to me the Meet the Parents series and Analyze This series are both no fun... or at least he was not responsible for the fun part (that would be Ben Stiller and Billy Crystal). But in this film, there's something about his character being grumpy about everything that makes me laugh so hard. He was ever so cool and calm in most of his drama films, so it's funny seeing this side of him. But the one surprised me the most is Morgan Freeman. I have never seen this well-respected actor having so much fun before. He's the lose canon here, and everything he does in this film opens up our eyes to a brand new Morgan Freeman.
Girls just want to have fun, sings Cyndi Lauper. And so did four senior man. And they did. And we did too. Tons of fun.
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