Cahiers Du Crappy

If truth be told, I was somewhat less charmed by What Happens in Vegas than at least one colleague -- to my mind, it deserves numerous demerits if only because whoever lit and costumed star Cameron Diaz apparently had it out for her big time -- but the sad truth is that, by any objective standard, it's hardly the worst romantic comedy Diaz has ever fronted; that honor still belongs to her 2002 post-Ferrelly Brothers embarassment The Sweetest Thing. Scripted by Nancy Pimental, whose sole claim to fame (before and since) is that she replaced Jimmy Kimmell as the single-entendre dispenser on cable's unlamented Win Ben Stein's Money, TST is (as I wrote at the time) a derivative and thoroughly predictable gross-out farce distinguished, if that's the word, by the fact that it's told from the woman's point of view, or at least somebody's rather warped idea thereof. Basically, it's a chick-flick version of Tomcats, which is to say a strong contender for most reprehensible American film of the 21st century to date.

How awful is it? Well, apart from the fact that there isn't a single character, major or minor, who isn't the most obnoxious stereotype or that there isn't a single plot twist or gag you can't see coming down Broadway, I guess it's not so bad. But in any case, here's a representative snippet -- specifically, the infamous stuck-with-the-meat-in-her-mouth sequence -- so you can decide for yourself.

Incidentally, that is of course the lovely and talented Selma Blair at the center of the action, a wonderful actress soon to be seen (presumably to better advantage) in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army. One can only hope that Blair changed representation after the above was filmed.