REVIEW

DVD Review: What Happens in Vegas (Extended Jackpot Edition)

Written by Blake Matthews
Published August 26, 2008

What Happens in Vegas stars Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz as newlyweds who met after getting double-booked in a hotel.  They go out on the hotels hospitality and at the end of the night get married after a drunken night.  They both want to get an annulment, but when Jack (Kutcher) uses Joy’s (Diaz) quarter to play the slots and wins three million dollars neither are willing to give up the money.

At the court hearing the judge played by Dennis Miller freezes the money and sentences them to “six months hard marriage” where they’ll have to live together and attend marriage counseling sessions.  The film then has Jack and Joy trying to one-up each other and make the other quit the marriage first.

Somewhere along the line, comes the predictable falling for each other and even after the divorce is granted, you know how the film will end, and it does.  The film has an interesting concept, but is poorly executed and with stars like Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz whom I’m a fan of, I expected better and was disappointed to say the least.

What Happens in Vegas (Extended Jackpot Edition) has several extras:

“Commentary with Director Tom Vaughan and Editor Matt Friedman” – the duo talk about how it was a “tight shoot” since they only had 46 days.  The challenges of filming many of the sequences at night and how the stars were still full of energy even at 5 am.  They also discuss how they had to change certain words in the theatrical release which have been restored for this DVD.  They mention that the original cut of the film ran two hours and 10 minutes, this DVD runs about an hour and 40 minutes, there are a handful of deleted scenes but don’t run anywhere near the 30 minutes.  Since this is the extended jackpot edition, it would have been nice if that cut had been included.

“Sitting Down With Cameron and Ashton” - This feature has both Ashton and Cameron sitting down and talking to each other about their roles.  It starts of very stiff and doesn’t really get much better; they do talk about the differences between men and women when it comes to deciding who they’ll sleep with, (most women are more choosy than men, but that’s nothing new) which is kinda of interesting, but this feature is mostly dull.

“DVD Extra Time with Zach Galifianakis” – this is comedian Zach Galifianakis (who has a small role in the film) interviewing director Tom Vaughan.  I like Galifianakis, but his brand of comedy is out of place here and just awkward.

Speaking of awkward – “From the Law Firm of Stephen J. Hader, Esq”. – is a commercial featuring Rob Corddry who plays Jack’s friend & lawyer in the film.  Here he offers his legal services to the gay community so they can get a divorce, this is just unfunny and offensive.

Six deleted/extended scenes make up the next feature and don’t add anything to the film, nor would they improve it.

Finally we have a Gag Reel this was worth watching and features Miller, Corddry, and Galifianakis providing alternate takes of their lines and is pretty funny.  It’s too bad that the film wasn’t this entertaining.

All in all What Happens in Vegas isn’t really worth your time, they say “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” this film should have been buried out in the desert of Vegas like Bugsy Segal is rumored to have done back in the day.

Keep reading for information and comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own!
DVD Review: What Happens in Vegas (Extended Jackpot Edition)
Published: August 26, 2008
Type: Review
Section: Video
Filed Under: Video: Romantic Comedies
Writer: Blake Matthews
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