From: slib1602@altair.selu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: REVIEW: HONEYMOON IN VEGAS
Date: 9 Sep 92 08:41:51 -0600
Summary: Help Needed
Reply-To: gharris@jade.tufts.edu
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Distribution: world
Organization: Southeastern Louisiana University

In article <1992Sep8.152756.10741@cbnewsj.cb.att.com>, leeper@mtgzy.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) writes:
>                              HONEYMOON IN VEGAS
>                       A film review by Mark R. Leeper
> 			Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
> 
>           Capsule review:  The writer of THE IN-LAWS and THE
>      FRESHMAN tells the story of a love triangle of a neurotic New
>      York private detective trying to marry his girlfriend while a
>      big-time gambler tries to win her away.  Much of the story
>      takes place in a Las Vegas infested with Elvis lookalikes.
>      Lots of little pieces that only sometimes hang together well.
>      Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
> 
>      Andrew Bergman has been around making comedies for a long time, but in
> HONEYMOON IN VEGAS he seems more like a new and talented amateur than a
> seasoned professional.  Bergman wrote and directed SO FINE and THE FRESHMAN,
> both of which jabbed at bad taste in American popular culture.  With
> HONEYMOON IN VEGAS he has stopped his little jabs and pulled out a meat
> slicer to go after the cult of Elvis worshippers.  Not that his basic plot
> has anything at all to do with Elvis: he uses Elvis just to create a comic
> background for his real story.
> 
>      Jack Singer (played by likably goofy Nicholas Cage) has been a
> diffident lover to Betsy (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) due to a deathbed
> promise to his mother (played by Anne Bancroft in cameo) that he would never
> marry.  Finally Betsy overcomes the promise and the two head for Las Vegas
> for a quick marriage.  That is where Betsy is seen by tough gambler Tommy
> Korman (played by James Caan).  Betsy has a very strong resemblance to the
> wife Korman lost to skin cancer, and Korman decides to snare Betsy for
> himself.  He lures Jack into a high-stakes poker game, takes him to the tune
> of $65,000, and then makes a deal with Jack: Jack's debt will be forgiven if
> Betsy will be Korman's platonic companion for the weekend.  Korman wants to
> use charm and his rather comfortable lifestyle to win Betsy.  Meanwhile,
> Jack is becoming increasingly frantic to break up the pair as Korman spirits
> Betsy off to Maui.
> 
>      What does all this have to do with Elvis?  Nothing really.  But the
> background of the story is a Las Vegas having a convention of Elvis
> impersonators.  Bergman constantly comments on the story with carefully
> chosen Elvis songs and shows us an army of gaudy Elvis lookalikes, Elvises
> of many races and sizes.  The film is just two Elvises short of pushing the
> gag too far.
> 
>      The usually reserved James Caan and the never reserved Nicholas Cage
> each seem to have a field day chewing up the scenery.  It is very rare to
> see Caan putting this much expression in a role and clearly enjoying
> himself.  Smaller roles go to the always enjoyable Pat Morita and Peter
> Boyle as an unnatural naturalized Hawaiian.
> 
>      The photography is surprisingly spotty.  At least two scenes appeared
> totally washed out in the print we saw.  Some scenes of natural beauty in
> Maui and natural beauty (?) in Vegas owe more to William Fraker's
> camerawork.  The cartoon credits were amusing and usually made sense.
> Overall this is an amiable but unexceptional comedy.  I rate it a +1 on the
> -4 to +4 scale.
> 
> 					Mark R. Leeper
> 					att!mtgzy!leeper
> 					leeper@mtgzy.att.com

Dear Mr. Harris,
  I received your message.  We of a group of 12 are all new to this system.
We were given little or no instructions.  We were told to play with the 
system and learn on our own.  Since you are such an expert on the subject,
why don't you give us a lesson on the proper way to send any kind of
responses?

bw
slib1602@selu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies