Last Vegas

If what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, then it’s unfortunate the screenplay for Last Vegas made it to Hollywood.

This comedy about aging and male bonding plays like a watered-down, geriatric version of The Hangover that tries to coast on the appeal of its star-studded cast of big-screen veterans.

The story follows Billy (Michael Douglas), whose wedding to a woman half his age has drawn his three lifelong friends to Las Vegas for a weekend bachelor party. Each comes with some personal baggage and unresolved grudges. Paddy (Robert De Niro) has struggled to get over the death of his wife a year earlier. Archie (Morgan Freeman) feels trapped by a series of health problems and an overprotective son (Michael Ealy). And Sam (Kevin Kline) has hit a rut in his 40-year marriage.

The trip allows each of them to cut loose and find the spark that connected them as children, even as an innocent friendship with a lounge singer (Mary Steenburgen) threatens to open old wounds.

Last Vegas makes no secret of its intentions as a crowd-pleaser for an older demographic in which originality is secondary to allowing its stars to share plenty of time in the spotlight.

While this quartet probably knows the material is beneath them, they don’t seem to mind a smudge on their legacy for the sake of having a good time, and their enthusiasm is infectious. They form an effortless chemistry that makes some of the far-fetched plotting seem more convincing.

The screenplay by Dan Fogelman (The Guilt Trip) manages some amusing sight gags and one-liners along the way, but mostly acts as a checklist of punchlines about the pitfalls of growing old. Name your favorite topics – Viagra, out-of-touch fashion sense, cell-phone blunders, failing prostates, hearing aids, gold-digging girlfriends – they’re all here. Plus there are a couple of clumsy attempts to turn cathartic and sentimental in the final act that are especially strained.

Director Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) hits the highlights of the colorful Vegas landscape. Yet the lively pace can’t rescue a script that is thin and predictable at every turn.

A trip to Vegas might inspire some people to take a gamble or get into some mischief. By contrast, Last Vegas is like the cinematic equivalent of a party pooper.

Rated PG-13, 105 minutes.