The $20.1 million opening weekend gross, and second-place finish, of
What Happens in Vegas, starring
Ashton Kutcher and
Cameron Diaz,
could and probably should be viewed as a success. Partly because this
battle-of-the-sexes romp based on a marketing line isn't very good; its
humor is forced and desperate, and
the movie (like Sin City itself) seems
born of the operating philosophy that more is more. While
Kutcher and Diaz generally evince a nice shared chemistry — both have
wide, easy smiles, and Diaz in particular that explosive, inside-out
laugh of hers — one of the interesting things is the manner in which
What Happens in Vegas
unfolds, on an almost subliminal level, as an age-gap affair. It's
something that could be felt in the theater, amidst kids who feel like
they know Kutcher more personally from his television work on
Punk'd and
That '70s Show, and who know Diaz, apart from her recent
SNL appearance in a “cougar” sketch featuring Kutcher, mainly from cable screenings of
There's Something About Mary... which is now an astonishing 10 years old.
Also contributing to the film's slippery traction was the general
impression — confirmed by several of my regular, mainstream film fan
friends — that this
Vegas pairing just didn't seem quite
right.
Kutcher, who just turned 30, is of course married to Demi Moore,
who is 16-plus years his senior. He seems a bit younger, though, no
matter the facial scruff he frequently sports between films.
Diaz, on the other hand, who will be 36 this August, sometimes comes across as a bit older than she actually is. Of course, when
A Lot Like Love
came out in 2005, five months
before his marriage to Moore, Kutcher was
27 and Amanda Peet was 33 — in other words, more of an age difference
than the one separating Kutcher and Diaz. That film, though, seemingly
faced no such similar silent advance judgment from audiences.
For the full piece, from FilmStew, click here.
