MOVIE REVIEW: Late Vegas

Any movie starring some of my all time favorite male actors is a must see. Just think Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and (sigh) Kevin Kline all in one movie...I could not wait. LATE VEGAS  finally came to town.

Billy, Paddy, Archie, and Sam have been friends since grade school. Now, in their late sixties, the four of them are in Las Vegas to throw a bachelor party for Billy, the one who swore that he would never marry. This provides the movie with the perfect vehicle to showcase the charm and talent of the stars.

Michael Douglas’s Billy is a wheeler-dealer marrying a girl half his age, the perfect trophy wife. Of the four, he seems to fit in with the Vegas lifestyle the best. He and Paddy,Robert De Niro, have become estranged because Billy did not attend Paddy’s wife’s funeral. Archie, Morgan Freeman, has been living with his son who has been treating his dad as an old man. Kevin Kline’s Sam is a little naive, but eager to use the Viagra and condom that his wife gave him at the airport.

This is a comedy, but the four stars get a chance to show that each is an accomplished actor. The tension between Billy and Paddy is well played and could have only been handled by quality actors. De Niro does rage as well, if not better, as anybody. Mary Steenburgen as the mature lounge singer provides the romantic interest. It says something about her that she holds her own against a screenful of young, bikini clad bodies.

I love Morgan Freeman and since he played Archie whose son is so concerned that he take his medications and not overdo any physical activity, I was afraid that he would die in this movie. (There have been too many movies where Freeman has died). We do get to see him cut some cool moves on the dance floor.

To me Kevin Kline is one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood and he was the main reason that I wanted to see this film. I will not tell you more about his part except that I still think that he is one of the best actors in Hollywood. There was one scene that caused me to have a flashback to The Big Chill.

Paddy, Archie, and Sam are a little out of the loop when it comes to pop culture and sophisticated Vegas, but by the end of the movie they owned it, Baby -- and what happened in Vegas should happen to us all.  It is a funny, touching movie with a cast to love. Oh, watch for Jerry Ferrara as Dean, the young tough guy who ends up taking pick up line advice from Archie and plays a big role in Paddy getting some of his own swagger back.

I am happy that Hollywood is making movies aimed at the ‘senior”  market, not patronizing, but with humor and intelligence.