From: leeper@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (mark.r.leeper)
Subject: HONEYMOON IN VEGAS
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 14:08:25 GMT

                             HONEYMOON IN VEGAS
                      A film review by 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
					Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies