''What Happens in Vegas'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Tom Vaughan and written by

Dana Fox Dana Fox (born September 18, 1976) is an American screenwriter. She is best known as the writer of '' The Wedding Date'' (2005), ''What Happens in Vegas'' (2008), and the television comedy series ''Ben and Kate'' (2012–13). Career Fox graduate ...

. It stars

Cameron Diaz Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress. With a variety of works in film, she is widely recognised for her work in romantic comedies and animation. Diaz has received various accolades, including nominations for ...

and

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a ...

as a couple who get married and win a casino jackpot prize during a drunken night in Las Vegas, but their simple plan to get a quick divorce and divide the money is complicated by the divorce court judge's ruling. The title is based on the Las Vegas marketing catchphrase " What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas." Despite negative reviews from critics, the film was a box office success.

Plot

In New York City, high-strung commodity futures trader Joy Ellis McNally (

) is dumped by fiancé Mason at his surprise birthday party which she throws. At the same time, easy-going carpenter Jack Fuller Jr. (

) is fired by his father, Jack Sr. Both are distraught and, with best friends Toni "Tipper" (

Lake Bell Lake Siegel Bell (born March 24, 1979) is an American actress, screenwriter and director. She has starred in various television series, including ''Boston Legal'' (2004–2006), '' Surface'' (2005–2006), ''How to Make It in America'' (2010–2 ...

), who is a bartender, and Jeff "Hater" (

Rob Corddry Robert William Corddry (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film ''Hot Tub Time Machine''. He ...

), a lawyer, take debauched trips to Las Vegas. Joy and Jack meet by chance when given the same hotel room due to a computer error. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up and receiving upgraded rooms and coupons to various clubs, they party and drink together and end up getting married. The next morning, agreeing it was a mistake, they plan to divorce. Before they can, Jack uses a quarter Joy gives him in a slot machine. He hits a three million dollar jackpot and Joy reminds him they are married and hence, she is entitled to half of the money. They return to New York, where they attempt to divorce. The judge declares they cannot divorce until they attempt to co-exist for six months, while attending weekly sessions with marriage counselor Dr. Twitchell. If they work at the marriage but still want to divorce after six months, each can keep half the winnings. If either party does not cooperate, the money will be tied up in litigation by the judge. The newlyweds devise more and more cunning schemes to undermine each other, such as Jack telling Joy that their counseling session is canceled to show she is not committed, and Joy inviting girls to their apartment to seduce him, throwing a party. Jack gives Joy's ex-fiancé, Mason, her engagement ring back without Joy knowing. However, at Joy's work retreat, they unexpectedly find themselves attracted to each other. Returning from the retreat, it is time for the judge to decide what happens to the money. On her way to the hearing, Joy sees Mason, who tells her he wants her back. Giving back the engagement ring, he tells her she is good enough for him. Joy thinks Jack set her up with Mason to cheat on him to guarantee divorce. She walks away from Mason and goes to the hearing. There, the marriage counselor testifies that the couple worked on the marriage. The judge decides they will split the remaining 1.4 million dollars (after taxes, bills Joy ran up, and money Jack spent on his new woodworking business). Joy tells the judge she does not want any of the money and as she leaves she gives the engagement ring to Jack, telling him she wants nothing from him. Joy is offered the promotion, but declines it, telling her boss she would rather be happy doing nothing than miserable doing something she hates. Jack's parents tell him it looks like he and Joy are in love. Realizing his mistake, he goes to find her. Tipper tells Jack that she quit her job and nobody knows where she is. He suspects that she has gone to Fire Island, New York, the only place that makes her feel truly happy. Finding her, Jack proposes (again) and she says yes. During the closing credits, there are scenes from the day Jack and Joy get married, of Tipper and Hater subsequently enacting a plan of revenge on Mason, and of Hater cutting off Dave.

Cast

as Joy McNally *

as Jack Fuller, Jr. *

as Toni "Tipper" Saxson *

as Jeffrey "Hater" Lewis *

Dennis Farina Donaldo Gugliermo "Dennis" Farina (February 29, 1944 – July 22, 2013) was an American actor. Often typecast as a mobster or police officer, he is known for roles such as FBI Agent Jack Crawford in '' Manhunter'', mobster Jimmy Serrano in th ...

as Richard "Dick" Banger *

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...

as Judge Whopper *

Krysten Ritter Krysten Alyce Ritter (born December 16, 1981) is an American actress and model. She came to prominence when she appeared as Jane Margolis in the AMC drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2009–2010) and its spinoff film '' El Camino'' (2019). She th ...

as Kelly *

Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 20 ...

as Mason *

Michelle Krusiec Michelle Jacqueline Krusiec (born Ya-Huei Yang; ; October 2, 1974) is an American actress, writer and producer. Early life Krusiec was born in 1974 in Taiwan. She was adopted at age five and raised in America by her father's elder sister, who ha ...

as Chong * Billy Eichner as Band Leader *

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album '' All Hail the Qu ...

as Dr. Twitchell *

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show '' Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''T ...

as Dave *

Treat Williams Richard Treat Williams (born December 1, 1951) is an American actor, writer and aviator who has appeared on film, stage and television in over 120 credits. He first became well known for his starring role in the 1979 musical film '' Hair'', and la ...

as Jack Fuller, Sr. *

Deirdre O'Connell Eleanore Deirdre O'Connell (16 June 1939 – 9 June 2001) was an Irish American actress, singer, and theatre director who founded the Focus Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Biography O'Connell was born in the South Bronx district of New York City, o ...

as Mrs. Fuller

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Odeon in Leicester Square, London on April 22, 2008. Twentieth Century Fox held the U.S. premiere on May 1, 2008, at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, CA. It opened in wide release in the United States on May 9, 2008. American '' Big Brother 9'' housemates Ryan and Sharon were given a special screening of the film after winning a "luxury competition" in April. They were also awarded tickets to the May 1 Hollywood premiere.

Reception

Box office

''What Happens in Vegas'' grossed $80.3 million in the United States and Canada and $131.4 million in other territories for a total of $219.4 million worldwide, against a production budget of $35 million. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $20.2 million in 3,215 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking finishing second at the box office behind ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

''.

Critical response

''What Happens in Vegas'' received generally negative reviews from critics. On ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

'' the film has a rating of 26%, based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 4.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''What Happens in Vegas'' has a few laughs, but mostly settles for derivative romantic comedy conventions and receives little help from a pair of unlikable leads." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

the film has a score of 36 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Manohla Dargis of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' slammed it, stating that ''What Happens in Vegas'' is "one of those junky time-wasters that routinely pop up in movie theaters". Metromix Chicago's Matt Pais called it "bland, boring and not fun at all". The film received two

Razzie Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

nominations including Worst Actress (

) and Worst Screen Couple (

and

). Both awards went to

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conra ...

for ''

The Hottie and the Nottie ''The Hottie and The Nottie'' (stylized as ''The Hottie & The Nottie'') is a 2008 American romantic comedy film starring Paris Hilton, Joel David Moore, and Christine Lakin. Written by Heidi Ferrer and directed by Tom Putnam, the film began shooti ...

''.

References

External links

* * * * * *
''What Happens in Vegas...'' Production Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:What Happens In Vegas 2008 films 2000s English-language films 20th Century Fox films 2008 romantic comedy films 21 Laps Entertainment films 2000s sex comedy films American romantic comedy films American sex comedy films Dune Entertainment films Films about marriage Films about weddings Films set in the Las Vegas Valley Films set in New York City Films shot in the Las Vegas Valley Films shot in New York City Films directed by Tom Vaughan (director) Films scored by Christophe Beck Regency Enterprises films 2000s American films