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What Happens in Vegas...
20th Century Fox

What Happens in Vegas... reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 36 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.5 out of 10
based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual and crude content, and language, including a drug reference

Starring Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Treat Williams, and Dennis Farina

For charismatic party guy Jack Fuller and buttoned-up commodities trader Joy McNally, a rowdy weekend coincidentally shared in Las Vegas should have, by all rights, ended up being little more than a random blur. That is, if these two vacationing New Yorkers didn't have a signed marriage license staring them in the face to shockingly remind them of the giant misstep they took while feeling no pain, Vegas style. Stacking the deck, not only did Jack and Joy tie the knot after tying one on, but later scored a mind-blowing 3 million bucks in a slot machine bonanza. Well, Jack won it, with Joy's quarter. At the machine she'd already been playing. Or was it the other way around? And whose loot is it, anyway? Therein lies the weird hand dealt this bickering duo, who take their predicament back to Manhattan only to be sentenced by the intractable Judge Whopper to "six months hard marriage." Despite the hapless protests of Jack's best friend and legal counsel Steve "Hater" Hader, Whopper refuses to grant Jack and Joy an annulment, freezes the prize booty, and forces the irresponsible couple to prove they have done everything humanly possible to make their impromptu marriage work. This includes cohabitation, weekly counseling sessions, and doing something the old-school Whopper believes Jack and Joy's "generation" hates to do: try. Otherwise, the judge guarantees, the 3 million bucks will stay caught up in a legal battle so long and expensive that no one but the lawyers will ever see a penny of it. Jack and Joy take the bait, only to find themselves locked in a hilarious, patience-testing, panty-twisting game of wild one-upmanship--may the best "pretend spouse" win. Can Jack and Joy survive their six months of "wedded bliss" without killing each other, and ultimately cash in for the big payoff? Or will the fiery sparks that ricochet between them actually ignite, turning a fake relationship into something real? In the end, What Happens in Vegas may prove the biggest surprise of all. (20th Century Fox)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Dana Fox  
DIRECTED BY: Tom Vaughan  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: May 9, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Travis Nichols
A first- or second-date flick, after which there can be some Cheesecake Factory and maybe a peck on the cheek, no harm done. What Happens in Vegas is pleasant enough for all of that (and it sidesteps all that "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" raunch).
Read Full Review
70
Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Amiable screwball comedy.
Read Full Review
70
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
An exceedingly bright comedy that never makes you feel stupid for enjoying its brisk pacing, smart lines, sound construction and superb comic acting, not only from Ashton Kutcher but from Cameron Diaz and well-chosen No. 2 bananas Rob Corddry and Lake Bell.
Read Full Review
67
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Kutcher, who gives his most energized performance to date, and Diaz, darting between the caustic and shrill, look as if they're warming up to groovy hate sex, not love, which may be why the film goes flat the moment it turns friendly.
Read Full Review
63
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Their chemistry goes like this: He cleans up real nice; she dirties down with gusto.
Read Full Review
63
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Sadly, about the nicest thing I can say about What Happens in Vegas is that I didn't hate it - although I suppose that's something.
Read Full Review
60
Variety Joe Leydon
This two-seated star vehicle for top-billed Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz wrings a respectable number of laughs from a formulaic scenario about attracted-opposites who bicker and back-stab their way toward happily-ever-aftering.
Read Full Review
60
LA Weekly Julia Wallace
The stars, despite having only a fraction of the charm and talent of classic sparring-but-meant-for-each-other duos, know how to mug for the camera and well up on cue, and somehow that turns out to be enough to carry this trifle.
Read Full Review
60
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Hokey and forced as it is, What Happens in Vegas eventually settles into a rhythm, maybe because Diaz and Kutcher actually look like they have fun together.
Read Full Review
50
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
The overwhelming sensation of deja vu is exhausting and disorienting. You really HAVE seen it all before.
Read Full Review
50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Complain all you want about the affable slobs in Judd Apatow comedies; at least they're not tools.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Ken Fox
Cameron Diaz is the ideal guy's gal and Ashton Kutcher is, well, a guy. Together, they're a zero.
Read Full Review
50
USA Today Claudia Puig
It's a story that feels familiar at best, hackneyed at worst, which is surprising and disappointing, as director Tom Vaughan also made last year's "Starter for 10," a charming British coming-of-age comedy.
Read Full Review
42
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
After the initial charm wears off, the whole thing gets check-your-text-messages dull.
Read Full Review
40
Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams
As it is, it's too restrained, too often -- too eager to gallop toward postcard sunsets on the beach when tequila shooters and lap dances are what the moment calls for. You'd think the combination of Diaz, Kutcher and Vegas would be good for at least a little sexy, silly fun. But don't bet on it.
Read Full Review
40
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
While Diaz and Kutcher make their clichéd characters as likable as possible, you can bet on this: Any movie named after an already-stale ad campaign isn't likely to gamble on the unexpected.
Read Full Review
40
Empire Ian Nathan
Bland enough to make millions as culture edges closer to oblivion.
Read Full Review
38
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The screenplay by Dana Fox (she was one of the rewriters of "27 Dresses") devolves into a series of humiliating pranks that always give the upper narrative hand to the male lead. Talk about depressing. I mean, that's what male screenwriters are for--to unfairly stack the deck against the female leads.
Read Full Review
38
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Laughs are few and far between in the innuendo-laden script attributed to Dana Fox, who's also responsible for the reprehensible "The Wedding Date."
Read Full Review
38
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
If you don't see where this is going, you've never seen a movie. Sorry it had to be this one.
Read Full Review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
What Happens in Vegas should damn well have stayed in Vegas.
Read Full Review
33
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
What Happens in Vegas is not only annoying, it's also incompetent – a bad mix.
Read Full Review
30
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Only Diaz shows spark because the actress knows how to simultaneously play nice and be a nasty character, thereby gaining audience sympathy. Everyone else hits one note, and it isn't nice.
Read Full Review
25
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Who wants to spend a minute on the Strip with the chance that there might be people as annoying as the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher walking around?
Read Full Review
25
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The one actor I wanted more of was Williams, who imbues Jack's dad with a robust, sometimes domineering wiliness that suggests a real person. Of course, these silly, inept filmmakers probably cast him because he plays a good guy and his first name is Treat.
Read Full Review
25
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
When it was over I felt vaguely embarrassed. I wasn't just leaving a movie theater. I was taking a walk of shame.
Read Full Review
20
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
If What Happens in Vegas... serves any purpose, it's to make me consider spending my gambling money in Reno or on a riverboat instead.
Read Full Review
20
Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
If you're gonna hire one of the funniest American comedians working today – Zach Galifianakis – and shove him to the side of the frame, then frankly, you can take what happens in Vegas, keep it in Vegas, and keep the rest of the us out of it.
Read Full Review
10
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
What Happens in Vegas... should have stayed in development -- forever. This ramshackle -- and occasionally repulsive -- farce doesn't even deliver on the minimal promise of its title; most of it takes place in Manhattan.
Read Full Review
10
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Because its director, Tom Vaughan, brings nothing of interest to the movie, including filmmaking, there isn't anything to say other than to note its insulting ugliness and ineptitude.
Read Full Review
10
Time Richard Schickel
Worst-in-breed not only for this year, but very likely in living memory.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chris E. gave it a10:
It was actually a really funny movie. We laughed all the way through it.

Pat B. gave it a9:
Very Very Funny ! Is a Big Comedy Movie ! Cameron is Beautiful ! Compliments at the cast !

Mr. C. gave it an8:
This Comedy is very, very funny !!! Asthon e Cameron is big !!! Very good...compliments !

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