Popcorn Chronicles

What Happens in Vegas

The opening salvo of Popcorn Chronicles is a romantic-comedy film starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher entitled What Happens in Vegas.

We all know Las Vegas, considered the Sin City of the world where all the gambling, mafia and sex happen. This is the place where people totally lose control of themselves and haphazardly dive into whatever pit they see in front of them. That is why the famous adage “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” was coined.

What Happens in Vegas is a cute romantic-comedy about two people who wanted to get away from their shitholes (or their so-called life) only to dive into a bigger pile of shit in Las Vegas. Joy McNally (Diaz) is an obsessive-compulsive stock broker who just got dumped by her boyfriend for being too controlling (honestly the best situation to get dumped: right before you give him a surprise party) while Jack Fuller (Kutcher) is a lousy happy-go-lucky guy who can’t seem to get a hold of his life. He just so happens to have been fired by his employer, who also happens to be his dad.

What better way to drown your frustrations in life to get away from it all and escape into a world of fun and entertainment, right? So the two flew off to Vegas in search of a new zest in life, only to find themselves crossing each other’s paths, partying and rocking hard all night and eventually pulling a Britney by getting married in Vegas.

The real shocker comes the morning after when they’ve sobered up and realized what big pile of shit they just got themselves into. They try to resolve the problem by agreeing to split up immediately but the bigger shock comes when Jack, by some stroke of luck or destiny, wins 3 Million Dollars in the slot machine using Joy’s leftover quarter. At first they argue on who should get the prize, but soon enough they realize neither one of them could get the whole dough since it’s conjugal property already.

The problem comes when nobody wanted to compromise, which led them to bring the case to the court. The judge, however, decided against their divorce (and the subsequent split-up of the money) and told them to live with each other for six months to be able to grant them the divorce.

The fun part of the movie comes when they both realize that when they get to make it appear that the other was unfaithful to the marriage, the judge would grant them the divorce and with it the entire cash prize. So they pulled out their big guns and tried to tempt the other to commit acts of infidelity, contempt of court and other things that practically made the plot twisted as it already is.

Watching Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in a movie is like seeing the marriage of There’s Something About Mary and That 70’s show. At first it’s somewhat hard to imagine Cameron and Ashton as a couple but seeing as to how Ashton is currently involved in a May-December love affair, it kinda rubs off on you anyway.

It’s not an all-out comedic feature but there are a lot of little hilarious moments spread out along the movie. Most remarkable of which are scenes that involve Chong, Joy’s competition in the office, and how she strives to win the promotion. I just had to give my biggest laugh when she tried to open the champagne using Joy’s technique (slicing the cork with a knife) and failed MISERABLY. Heh.

There are light kilig moments here and there but not too much to drown you in all the cheesiness. I especially liked the part where they found each other in the bathroom during a party and Jack offered Joy a can of beer. Nothing special but you know there’s something sweet going on in the scene.

Lastly, I’d like to give a major thumbs-up to the guys who did the editing of this movie. Truly orgasmic Las Vegas partying sequence you got right there! I was so taken aback that my mouth was open the whole time in amazement. Genius!

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