It's not a flawless film. It's not the funniest or best film you'll ever see. . . but it is an original, one of kind comedy full of wit, charm, and great performances.
You have to go along with it's rather sit-com type premise that is set up quickly and played out as fast as possible in order to get to the funnier reverberations and character reactions to what is being played out.
That's the way it should be.
The way it shouldn't have been was in a film that was released one year later called: Indecent Proposal –which was an angst ridden, deadly serious melodramaticpiece of junk in which Robert Redford plays a billionaire who offers Woody Harrelson's wife Demi Moore a million bucks to go to bed with him for one night. Indecent Proposal was played straight and it was a huge box office success. It didn't deserve to be. But it had the marketing, the timing and stars
Honeymoon in Vegas is perhaps even better now than when it was first released. It's quirky and fun with a dark edge and some funny original comic conceits. We also have the hindsight of seeing it as superior comic riff on the central plot twist used poorly in Indecent Proposal.
Ann Bancroft plays Jack (Nicholas Cage) Singer's mother. On her deathbed she wants Jack to promise her that he won't ever ruin his life by marrying someone who would never be as good to him as she was. He can't quite promise that as she dies in his arms.
But he's wracked with guilt and scared of marriage. His work as a private investigator specializing in tracking down and getting the goods on cheating spouses. This only affirms how marriage is a shaky institution fraught with uncertainty and disappointment, heartbreak. and betrayal. Mom was right. Who needs marriage.
Oh but he is so much in love with Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) who stands by her man and understands his fears and devotion to mom.
Yet her biological clock is ticking. She needs him to stop being a momma's boy and marry her so they can begin a family. He throws caution to the wind and agrees. It's off to Las Vegas they go. Vegas may be in the midst of a convention of Elvis Presley imitators, but it's a romantic trip for the young lovers. Yet as the time arrives to get married, Jack is fighting with his cold feet and guilt..
Meanwhile Tommy (James Caan) Korman ,a gambling gangster, has seen the young couple. Betsy is a dead ringer for the love of his life (who has died a horrible cancerous death from skin cancer). He wants her. And he's a guy who gets what he wants.
Next thing you know Jack is playing poker with Tommy and his gambling buddies. He thinks the gangster is actually a wealthy garment industry tycoon who likes to gamble. Jack is suckered into playing a higher stakes game with free stakes. But the excitement of a can't lose
hand makes Jack borrow more and more money. Real money. He's got a flush and it's a one in a million hand that he has to ride out. After borrowing $65,000 dollars, his hand is beaten by Tommy's billion to one odds hand. Jack can't possibly pay him back. Ah but the gambler has a proposition. A weekend with his fiancé Betsy and the debt will be forgiven. Jack can't possibly agree to such a thing. Tommy assures him he'll be a gentlemen, that sex is not involved in the deal he is making. Jack really has no choice. He has to agree to this.
The women he has kept waiting for hours, who thinks she is about to get married, is now about to be told she has to spend the weekend with a garment industry tycoon to make good on Jack's gambling debt.
Set against the backdrop of a Las Vegas populated with every imaginable Elvis imitator you can imagine, and later a picaresque Hawaii , the film briskly flies along . Complications arise of course and the deceptions grow deeper and funnier. The soundtrack consists of carefully chosen
Elvis songs redone by a who's who of early 90's artists from Dwight Yoakum to Billy Joel.
And eventually it all leads to a grand comic finale in which Jack has temporarily joined the Flying Elvises!!!
This improbable film has a dozen inventive comic ideas and at least as many laugh out loud, roll on the floor lines. Caan is perfectly cast . Cage is at his quirky, manic, nervous Moonstruck, Raising Arizona best. Parker has never been less annoying and easier to like. The cast is full of recognizable faces like Tony Shalhoub, Peter Boyle, Seymour Cassell, former Las Vegas U coach Jerry Tarkanian, Pat Morita and even Ben Stein. They all have their moments of glory.
Andrew Bergman who had given us the delightful The Freshman a couple of years earlier in 1990 (with Brando and Broderick), followed it up with this inventive quirky comic delight. He didn't keep his promise or streak going however, (some appreciated It Could Happen to You but few liked Striptease).
Honeymoon in Vegas is an original. If you delight in comedies which try to be a little different, take risks and deliver quirky comedic moments, don't miss this very funny film.
(No extras on the DVD beyond the original theatrical trailer)
Chris Jarmick, Author (The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder Available end of November 2000)
A Las Vegas gambler wins a Hawaii fling with a private eye's bride during a convention of Elvis impersonators. Directed by Andrew Bergman.More at HotMovieSale.com
Determined to finally make The Big Commitment, low-rent private-eye Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) proposes a whirlwind Vegas marriage to his long-sufferi...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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