WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS

Free screening.

That's all I'm saying. Because I know it seems odd that I would have willfully attended a movie starring Ashton Kutcher and/or Cameron Diaz--let alone the two of them together--and paid my good money to do so. But I didn't, so there. It was free. But by the eye of Zeus, it was actually neither a waste of my good money (free, remember?) nor my good time. It was fun. It was...cute. It was...rather enjoyable. AND I USUALLY HATE ROMANTIC COMEDIES.

Now, the last free screening I attended thanks to a random invite was for STREET KINGS, so my newfound skepticism concerning free gifts (everything costs something), left me with very (read: VERY) low expectations for this particular feature. And what with Goofy Face and I-Can-Eat-A-Banana-Sideways-With-The-Peel-Still-On Fried-Skin Smiley Girl (was that harsh?), my Annoyance Meter was set on HIGH. But the promise of free popcorn wooed me into the theatre. That, and the movie's clever though realistically somewhat fallible premise. Plus, I hadn't puked in my mouth in a while, so I thought, what the hey. But really, who doesn't want to see a movie about two people who get married accidentally in Vegas? Who hasn't feared that might happen to them one trip or another...or has it already happened?

Ashton's up to his old tricks with mostly physical comedy (that's where you make the money, baby, put THE GUARDIAN behind you), but alongside Banana Girl, they somehow work. There's a middle scene where Cameron gets too wet for next to no reason, and I really almost threw up ON people during the last five minutes of the flick, but besides these two minor script flaws, I gleefully was L'ing-O-L (or do people say LOL-ing?) the whole movie long. There were no animal gags (I hate you, FAILURE TO LAUNCH), no overwhelming plot holes (see: everything starring Kate Hudson post-ALMOST FAMOUS), and no Kate Hudson (yeah, I said that). And there was Rob Corddry!

THE PLOT: They should've had a pre-nup.
THE THOUGHT: I wanna go to Vegas!
IN FIVE: 3.5/5*

MAN ALIVE!: http://www.whathappensinvegasmovie.com/

* = I think I used to have a rule that no rom-com, by merit of the entire genre's puerile ridiculousness, merits a score above three. But look at that! Ashton broke the barrier! This is alarming.