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Aston Kutcher is back, dating yet another considerably older woman, this time on-screen. Cameron Diaz is his on-screen love interest in ‘What Happens In Vegas (2008)‘, a romantic-comedy about two persons with absolutely different personalities meeting by chance in Las Vegas. Both have recently suffered personal setbacks – in Jack Fuller’s (Ashton Kutcher) case, he was fired by his father-boss from his construction firm while Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) is seeking respite from her hectic working life and the traumatic experience of being scorned by her fiancé in front of all his friends.

Jack and Joy meet each other through a series of coincidences, and eventually they agree to go on a night of wild partying together with friends Jeffrey ‘Hater’ Lewis (Rob Corddry) and Toni ‘Tipper’ Saxson (Lake Bell). They ultimately wed, unknowingly, in a Vegas chapel in a drunken haze. The next morning, sober once more, the couple decided to split once they return to New York and reverse that impulsive wedding decision. An argument ensues and at which time Jack angrily slots in a quarter from Joy into a jackpot machine. To the shock of the both of them, Jack’s machine hits a $3 million jackpot.

They return to New York and meets in court to finally divorce after the shotgun wedding and to fight for possession of the $3 million. Contrary to each of their expectations, they meet a conservative judge with an old-fashioned, romantic belief about matrimony and instead of granting a divorce, the judge sentences the both of them to six months of ‘hard marriage’, freezing their prize money, forcing them to make the marriage work or face with losing the cash reward entirely. This is where the story really starts, as the audience is treated to Jack’s and Joy’s hilarious and ridiculous attempts at trying to undermine each other to snatch the prize money away from the other.

This is not a ground-breaking, creative and refreshing plot – in fact, it’s been used in numerous romantic comedies. While it’s nothing out of the ordinary, it is still a tried and tested recipe, and the choices of Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz have sparked life into this comedy. You will see them trying to outwit each other, often to hilarious effect. The stark contrast in lifestyles and personalities lead to many showdowns and heated confrontations and this produces several memorable moments in the movie. In the end, they find themselves falling for each other, helping each other out of the rut that they were stuck in. As mentioned, it was a predictable plot, but it is not an immediate disappointment.

That being said, I felt Aston Kutcher’s theatrics were exaggerated at times. His mannerisms and gesticulation were greatly exaggerated, giving the audience them impression of the movie being very ‘forced’ and unnatural. Cameron Diaz, on the other hand, was a gem. Despite the awkward pairing of the two, she manages to put in a very professional act and is a very accurate representation of the high-strung, worrisome workaholic Joy McNally.

Through the course of this show, there were a few moments of dry humour that really made me roll my eyes. What Happens In Vegas (2008) is far from being sophisticated, however, it is still a very entertaining chick-flick that might make you go smile and go ‘awwwww’ at the end.

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When the first Shrek film arrived a few years ago, it took a half dozen of my friends informing me that it was more than simple children’s fare to get me into the theater. It was a hard sell, but when I got in there, I was pleasantly surprised by the adult natured humor and clever play on the classic fairy tale formula. It was a fun experience and the second film actually managed to improve it, turning the angry ogre and obnoxious donkey into household blanket and lunchbox fodder.

So, when Dreamworks rolled out their third entry in the Shrek series, the eponymously named Shrek The Third, I was excited for yet one more run through Far Far Away and its many genre entrapped residences, flush with pop culture references, slyly disguised adult humor, and a slapstick approach to even the most simple of character interactions.

Unfortunately, I was let down almost immediately. Without giving away too much of the plot of the story (of which there is very little), Shrek and Fiona are staying in Far Far Away because the frog king is ill and Shrek has been called upon to stand in as the King’s son-in-law for a bit. Apparently, Far Far Away is a wee bit sexist as well. Anyways, Shrek doesn’t enjoy this new responsibility and along with the possible arrival of a bouncing baby ogre, and the whiny Justin Timerlake voiced antics of Arty, the young and oft-hated future King Arthur, the journey begins.

First off, the familiar aspects of the film series are almost completely gone. Sure, the characters are all there, and they’re going through the motions. But, with every declaration of “I’m an ogre donkey” Shrek seems to be just a bit too snarky, tossing a smile to the crowd saying, “I’ll make good in the end.” There’s no crass, obnoxious Shrek anymore who just wants to be left alone. This is a boring, family man with a gruff exterior that is no longer funny alongside Donkey’s grown up attitudes, his own children in tow.

The jokes are all stale, with dozens upon dozens of characters thrown out in rapid succession, each one showing off their own basic stereotypes, whether in gender, origin story, or pop culture cliché. Essentially, Shrek The Third doesn’t try a single thing new. What has happened instead is that the series that took such joy in utilizing all of the stereotypes from children’s movies and making fun of those conventions has fallen into the trap of utilizing those very conventions. It’s a problem that unfortunately plagues many children’s films, but is infinitely more disappointing for a film series that at one time did it right.

When mass production and marketing took control of the children’s film market, quality immediately fell. Shrek was a good example of how some directors and writers were unhappy with this freefall in quality. Six years later unfortunately, those very same writers and directors have gone down the path of least resistance and offered up canned cliché schlock that children will eat up because it has pretty colors.

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