Last Vegas (2013) Who Knew?

Last Vegas (2013) CBS

At first thought, you may wonder what this movie is actually about. I thought it was going to be the last hurrah for a few older gents that wanted to relive their glory days of chasing tail and giving each other a hard time. They do make fun of each other a lot, but it is never maliciously done. I honestly was not expecting a drama about guys who have been friends for over 60 years.

Each character comes from a different circumstance of elderly life. Morgan Freeman comes from a situation where he is being babied by his family because they are worried about his health. De Niro is an old curmudgeon that lost his wife and his will to enjoy life. Michael Douglas is a rich man who never found real love. Kevin Kline was still with his wife, but felt trapped by his life with her.

Each character embodies a different style of a person in the later years of their life and the film has very little to do with trying to get women half their age in Vegas. During the film you can see how each character has lived over the years and De Niro is probably the most honest of the four about his life and the way the others live theirs. He criticizes them for running away from their lives and not being able to confront their problems although he hasn’t as well.

Although there are so gratuitous moments of the film, there is no nudity. Being a Las Vegas native I can testify to the authenticity of some of the situations they are caught up in like being the judges of a bikini contest. Stuff like that and meeting transsexuals is not out of the question.

The characters have some problems that haven’t been resolved since they were kids and they are understandable secrets to keep. Too many years have gone by since they happened and it would be difficult to talk about them now.

Last Vegas was much more diverse than I expected it to be and I ended up enjoying it to a point. I am not saying it’s a great film, but if you are interested in what I have already written then you might have a fun time watching it.

I was happy to see Jerry Ferrara back in a film because he was a great character in Entourage. The last time I saw him was in the movie Battleship (2012) which like this film was much better than it looked. I am hoping he has a good performance in Lone Survivor (2013) so that I can officially say he is back.

Last Vegas was fun, heartfelt, and provided interesting point of view. Maybe my expectations were supremely lowered due to the marketing of the film, but I thought it wasn’t a waste of time like I expected. I may never watch it again, but for a one time watch it was good.