You know what movie I’m not afraid to admit I liked? Out to Sea. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau starred as old men (grumpy) who get jobs on a pleasure cruise as dance hosts, even though Lemmon is a recent widower, Matthau’s just looking for a rich widow and neither of them can dance particularly well. Brent Spiner played an emcee who does his own laudatory introductions. I still think that’s kind of adorable.
Also adorable, albeit a little more gimmicky, is Last Vegas, another film starring aging actors who embark on a vacation, engage in deception, find winter/winter romance and rehash some old baggage. But whereas Lemmon and Matthau had by the end of their careers established a cherished, time-tested rapport, the sight of Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline together for the first time in the same movie has very different associations. We can’t help but wonder if Last Vegas, in the grand tradition of the original Ocean’s Eleven, is nothing more than an excuse for all of them to hang out together and shoot a movie in what they might plausibly consider their “off” hours.
The plot, thin as it is, centers around lifelong bachelor Michael Douglas, who gets engaged for the first time decades after his best friends De Niro, Freeman and Kline have lived long and happy lives with their spouses. De Niro is still getting over the recent death of his wife, Freeman’s health issues have led to friction with his overprotective son, and Kline loves his wife dearly but is getting so bored with retirement that she gives him a free pass to do whatever – and whomever – he wants at Douglas’s bachelor party in… oh, I think you can guess where.
Their adventures lead to gambling, bikini contests and wild parties. One gets the distinct impression that we’re looking into the future at Grown Ups 5, albeit with actors who have too much dignity to fart, sneeze and belch at the same time. The cast of Last Vegas behaves not so much badly as they do naughtily, impersonating mafiosos (I’m actually surprised a real one never showed up to call their bluff), chatting up attractive women young enough to be their granddaughters and stealing time away from a lovely, mature lounge singer played by Mary Steenburgen.
And yet while comedies of this ilk tend to tack on heartwarming messages about friendship, family and whatever else the screenwriters think Middle America will go for this week, it feels just a little more meaningful coming from the cast of Last Vegas. Though they muddle through a bizarre cameo by the LMFAO guys, looking unsure as to who the hell they are, Douglas, De Niro, Freeman and Kline do attend to their respective subplots with sensitivity and honesty, even though the set-ups are clichéd and worn.
Freeman speaks fairly and sweetly about not letting the act of survival get in the way of living. De Niro deals openly with the complex history of his disappointing friendship with Douglas, who had his own romantic history with De Niro’s deceased wife that they really should have talked about long ago. Kline embraces his free pass in Vegas but has no idea what to do with it, forming meaningful friendships with drag queens instead of partaking in one hooker after another. These are sweet human beings, and although Last Vegas doesn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking with them, it sure was nice to visit for a while.
People are still people, and there’s no reason to suggest that just because a man enters his 60s or 70s that he doesn’t have any of the old inclinations to have fun and even be a little debaucherous once in a while, and that those inclinations aren’t perfectly valid and worthy of their own movie, even one as disposable as this. My Dad lived to be 72, and he said right at the end that he still felt mentally like the same man he was at the age of 30. I’m sure a lot of us can recognize a little bit of our dads in the characters of Last Vegas, if you’re not old enough to actually recognize yourself and fully appreciate their innocent, prankish fun and their likable, albeit benign adventures.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
