Writer Dan Fogelman and director Jon Turteltaub rolled the dice on the senior crowd with “Last Vegas.”
Not college seniors. Too ready and available for Sin City. Not high school seniors. Too young to really showcase the pursuits. “Last Vegas” is squarely aimed at the AARP crowd. Marketing studies be damned.
From the robust crowd gathered Sunday afternoon at Carousel Center to follow the tale of friendship starring Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline, they came up five sixes. Yahtzee!
Sure, “Last Vegas” works as an amusing comedy, fully riding on the talents of these four acting horsemen. The punchlines are funny and the antics interesting as Billy, Paddy, Archie and Sam gather in Las Vegas to celebrate the pending first marriage of Billy. They have been friends for 60 years. When they grew up together in Brooklyn, they proudly dubbed themselves the Flatbush Four.
Time, as it will do, has tested their ties. Big-shot Billy, played with ample charm by Douglas, and hard-nosed Paddy, whose rough edges are handled lovingly by Billy, will have to work through a particularly big beef.
The four stars are great giving what the world has come to expect from them: Cool and handsome Douglas. Rough but attentive De Niro. Hip and intelligent Freeman. Zany yet grounded Kline. Throw in sexy, smart and age-appropriate lounge singer Diana, played with much all-around appeal by Mary Steenburgen, and you also have a warm story of friendship that shows how love and loyalty can last a lifetime and absorb any new wrinkle that may come up at the tail end of the journey.
A great line is uttered by still-handsome Billy, who declares that his brain can’t come to grips with the age of his body.
Heck, anybody over 30 can find the gold in that one.
