Last Vegas

Like a sorry cross between The Hangover and Last Of The Summer Wine, Last Vegas is a vulgar attempt to generate humour from the exploits of a group of doddery old childhood pals who travel to the neon-lit city of sin for a bachelor party with scantily clad stereotypes and banging choons.

Michael Douglas’ Billy is a well to do playboy about to marry younger bride Lisa (Bre Blair). Convinced by his gang of old fuddies for a night out in Vegas before the wedding, the foursome (Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline and a particularly jittery De Niro) assemble for a low brow/ high jinx assault on modern cinema and common decency.

Judging by the cast and director we should have least expected passable fluff but Last Vegas is a crude and soulless affair, flagrantly tasteless in its retching of questionable humour in the style of 70s sex comedies like the later Carry On films and the Confessions of series. In this multimedia age of celebrity paedophile scandals, comedies of such a nature appear even more indecent than they were back in the day. While the likes of the American Pie series had a certain context and irony, Last Vegas is not only ill-timed and conceived, it just isn’t funny.

Kevin Kline is predatory as Sam, the youngest of the group, given free reign (and a condom) by his wife to sleep around with anyone he pleases, so letches his way through casinos, chasing women like a rabid Benny Hill with a fistful of Viagra. Meanwhile Morgan Freeman jives embarrassingly like a drunk dad at a wedding while Douglas and his “child bride” only exacerbate the cringe factor.

There is a slight dramatic conflict between De Niro’s Paddy and Billy that hints at something slightly more meaningful beneath the glitzy surface but there is not enough drama to hold attention. De Niro’s films and performances have been on the decline for many years now but it seems he has here (hopefully) hit an all time low. One scene where the clan judge a pool-side beauty contest features a leopard skin Speedo wearing MC gyrating his groin into the great mook’s face. Another with De Niro and Freeman lapping vodka from the bosom of an ice sculpture is just hideous.

If Last Vegas has anything going for it, it isn’t boring. What there is of a story judders forward but everything else is badly timed and poorly executed. Even if this were a teen comedy with younger stars the humour would be questionable but in the mitts of an over sixties A-list, who should frankly know better, it’s an abomination. A career low for all involved.

Last Vegas is released in cinemas on 3rd January.