> What Happens in Vegas
Director: Tom Vaughan
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Lake Bell, Jason Sudzikis, Treat Williams, Michelle Krusiec, Dennis Farina, Zach Galifianakis, Queen Latifah
Rating: (M)
4 stars (out of 5)
Review by Christine Powley
The mob created Vegas to make money and to launder it. It is a gaudy fantasy town where people go to get a little wild without it spilling over into their real lives.
I am going to credit Elvis with the expression "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" because it sounds best when you use his signature drawl.
Cashing in on the Vegas vibe is What Happens in Vegas (Hoyts), a romantic comedy that wisely concentrates on the comedy. Cameron Diaz is Joy, an uptight stockbroker who gets dumped by her stuffy Ivy League-type boyfriend Mason (Jason Sudzikis) for being too controlling.
At the same time, perpetual adolescent Jack (Ashton Kutcher) is being sacked by his dad (Treat Williams) for never doing any work.
The solution for the troubled twosome is to leave New York for some Vegas downtime. They bump into one another, hit the town and wake up married.
In the cold light of morning they decide to opt for a speedy annulment, but while discussing the details, they play the slots and hit a $3-million jackpot.
Instead of agreeing to split the money, they go to court and a zany judge announces that they have to live together for six months to try to make their marriage work. Only then will he decide who gets the money.
Well, we know that the good-looking pair are going to be together at the movie's end, but the pleasure is in watching the second-banana characters milk the comedy.
Jack's best friend Hater (Rob Corddry) is an incompetent lawyer constantly steering Jack wrong in this battle of the sexes, while Joy's best mate Tipper (Lake Bell) loathes Hater and has plenty of bad advice of her own.
As a romance What Happens in Vegas is only tepid at best, but most of the time you are too busy laughing to be that bothered.
> I'm Not There
Director: Todd Haynes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, Kris Kristofferson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Juliette Moore, Peter Friedman
Rating: (M)
4 stars (out of 5)
Review by Mark Orton
Inspired by the life and times of one Robert Zimmerman, I'm Not There may well be discussed as a biopic.
But, to tackle the task of describing one of the most innovative pieces of cinema in recent times, you need a large sack of convention-bending descriptions.
Director Todd Haynes' film is a whole new can of potential artistic hara-kiri.
To make a linear version of Dylan's fascinating transformation from underground folk hero to electrified pop star would be difficult enough.
Well, what Haynes has done is up the ante 10-fold with a mashed up dogs breakfast that so often comes out smelling like roses.
Heavily de-saturated images are suddenly flooded with colour sequences as Dylan's music is mixed between the original versions and some inspired covers.
Six distinct periods of Dylan's life have been isolated and dramatised through six very different personas.
From Marcus Carl Franklin as the excellent 11-year-old blues-soaked Dylan, to Cate Blanchett as the scathing, pill-popping Dylan, each character brings a whole new perspective to the man.
It's hard to believe that one person can be so many people and still carry a career the way he has, but that's the point.
It's not meant to be taken literally; I'm Not There is a feature length poem. It's a poem that intertwines myth, legend and reality within an imaginative collection of images.
Heath Ledger's performance as the misogynist musician is commendable and somewhat poignant given his untimely death.
But nothing can compete with Blanchett's chilling amphetamine-ridden angst in the face of an unloving audience.
The only slightly sour note is the sequence involving Richard Gere. His brief role as the reclusive Billy The Kid has just a few too many loose ends.
I'm Not There is too rich to enjoy in one helping.
Even for Dylan fans, it's an extremely complex and somewhat obtuse representation of a unique life still being lived.
