Review of Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) by Gareth R — 16 Aug 2008

Erroneously named Honeymoon In Vegas, this is actually about a wedding. Or the lack there of. This is no classic, and even looks a bit 'TV movie' despite the dazzling locations, but it is very funny and quite exciting at times and if you like Elvis music, you'll love the soundtrack - although every cover version lacks something.

It's a shame the premise is shaky. Jack has a phobia of getting married because his mother made him promise never to tie the knot (that's the opening scene that leads into a nifty cartoon title sequence). Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker wobbling between convincingly angry, and unconvincingly reading lines for the rest of the time) wants to marry him. So far so good. They go to Vegas to get it over with. Only here professional gambler Tommy sees Betsy, the spitting image of his dead wife, and decides he wants to marry Betsy. So he tricks Jack into owing him $65,000, and gives him the get out clause of letting Tommy spend the weekend with Betsy. This is where the plot runs into its believability problems. Jack bets money he doesn't have - is he really this stupid? Tommy veers between very nasty and having a genuine love for his wife, although this does balance out at creep, so that sort of works for the villain. Betsy actually starts to like Tommy - why doesn't she find him creepy? So you could get easily frustrated. But it's better just to relax and watch Jack desperately try to get Betsy back.

Basically, this is a lot of fun, but the plot needs tightening.