Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Honeymoon in Vegas Blu-ray Movie Review

Indecent comedy.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 1, 2011

I am immune to the charms of Elvis Presley. So sue me. I’m not fond of his singing, though I have a grudging admiration for his late 1960’s proto-soul output like “Suspicious Minds,” if only for the song craft and arrangements, neither of which is Elvis-centric. I find his persona grating, his films largely lamentable, and the fact that he was arguably his generation’s greatest music superstar more than a bit puzzling. Now the punchline is my eldest sister, who is older than I am by enough years that she can be considered in another generation, was President of Salt Lake City’s Elvis Fan Club for a while in the early 1960’s. That Utah-Elvis connection may be about the only thing I can relate to in 1992’s Honeymoon in Vegas, a film that tries hard—way too hard, in fact—for a sort of neo-screwball ethos, Utah Chapter of Flying Elvises and all, but which falls flat and seems more like an overly harried and frenetic comedian throwing stale joke after stale joke at his audience in a desperate attempt to elicit even a passing minor giggle. This putative comedy, oddly similar to 1993’s Indecent Proposal, a supposed drama which in its own way is a lot funnier than anything in Honeymoon in Vegas, is one of the worst examples of star Nicolas Cage’s inability to escape from manifold tics, spasms and other “actorly” moments, but the main problem with the film is simply that it's the victim of writer-director Andrew Bergman’s insistence on sitcom-esque situations, characters and storylines. Now, this is not to say there aren’t actual laughs in Honeymoon in Vegas, for there most certainly are, but they happen almost in spite of the film, not because of it.

Actually, there is one more thing I can easily relate to in Honeymoon in Vegas—the name of co-star Sara Jessica Parker’s character, Betsy, the woman Cage’s character Jack is trying to marry against formidable odds. Betsy happens to be the name of my wife, so I can well appreciate the allure of a woman with that particular name. But of course that’s grasping at filmic straws, which is what many viewers may be forced to do as well to find something to hold on through what is an increasingly improbable series of events, one which Bergman must have felt added up to hilarity, but which regularly fail to even put one and one together to make two. The basic plotline of Honeymoon in Vegas, as with any good—or not so good—sitcom, is simplicity itself. Jack has a fear of commitment, which led to him promising his mother on her deathbed that he would never marry. His love for Betsy changed all that, of course, and the two have become engaged, traveling to Vegas for a quickie wedding. While there, Betsy attracts the attention of local high roller Tommy (James Caan) due to her resemblance to Tommy’s late wife. Because this is a very special episode of some sitcom you’ve never seen (and yet, yes, you have seen it—repeatedly), Jack is soon seriously in debt to Tommy and the only way out of his predicament is to “loan” Betsy to Tommy for the weekend. Laughing yet?

If few are as immune to Elvis as I am, the ranks are considerably more swelled with those who find Nicolas Cage an odd commodity at best. He’s in full hyperbolic mode throughout most of Honeymoon in Vegas, a walking bundle of neuroses that would be more at home in any given Woody Allen film, though given Bergman’s penchant for replacing dialogue with screaming, Cage is relegated to one frantic scene after another, usually full of full throated yelling. Once Caan’s Tommy spirits Betsy away to an all expense paid vacation in Hawaii, Betsy, not exactly the model of fidelity and faithfulness, starts to see some redeeming traits in the gambler and starts to second guess her relationship with Jack. That only ups Jack’s terror level to red, as finally ready to make a commitment, he sees Betsy escaping his increasingly desperate grasp.

If Cage is so hyperbolic as to be virtually intolerable throughout a lot of the film, Sara Jessica Parker is really oddly subdued, especially considering the fact that Betsy should be such a spitfire. Parker seems to be off her usually expert comedic timing as well, managing only in fits and starts to elicit any humor from her predicament. Caan probably comes off best in terms of the three main leads, and then perhaps only due to relative comparisons. He at least has the good sense to neither overplay his hand (pun intended, considering his “career”) nor to phone in a performance with little or no affect.

Honeymoon in Vegas is at least occasionally downright goofy enough to overcome its manifold flaws, and it features one great cameo—among a sea of misfires—by Peter Boyle, playing (of all things) a Hawaiian tribal chief with a love of showtunes. In fact, the film’s one real shot at something approaching a non-forced energy is its relentless soundtrack of Elvis tunes, done by a great series of cover artists including everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Amy Grant to Billy Joel to Willie Nelson to Bono (and, yes, Elvis himself). The film’s somehow famous final act, replete with a bunch of Elvis impersonators who also happen to be part of a skydiving team, manages to whip up at least a little charm to go along with the otherwise too manic proceedings. But it may be a case of too little too late, leaving the audience less than all shook up.

Honeymoon in Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Honeymoon in Vegas has one of the most oddly schizoid transfers in recent memory. Encoded via AVC in 1080p and 1.85:1 this is a Blu-ray that one moment looks at least reasonably sharp, but then in the next moment devolves into fuzzy softness. At another moment, there's the waxy cleanliness of ultra-DNR, and in the next the entire image is buried under a dirty cloud of digital noise. Contrasting the color of the original theatrical trailer with the main feature as presented on this Blu-ray, while the trailer looks considerably browner, flesh tones in the trailer may actually be preferable to the weirdly almost fluorescently bright pink-red tones in the movie itself. Color is often incredibly bright, even lurid, with blues and reds looking best and relatively most natural, and greens often being just this side of blooming. Somewhere in all of this mishmash of looks, large sequences of Honeymoon in Vegas actually look at least above average if not spectacular, and thankfully that includes a lot of the stunning Hawaii segments. Why this transfer is so on again, off again in so many different ways is perplexing, but fans of the film probably won't be paying as much attention to the image quality as those for whom the film offers no other interest than to pick holes in the transfer.

Honeymoon in Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While it's a shame Honeymoon in Vegas wasn't granted a lossless surround mix, one which would have upped the enjoyment of the Presley-centric soundtrack considerably, as it stands the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix provided on this Blu-ray is certainly fine, at least as far it goes. Fidelity is excellent, with both dialogue and the ubiquitous song underscore offered with sparkling clarity and excellent dynamic range. Of course there's simply no directionality here, not even minor panning from left to right, but despite being resolutely anchored front and center, the mix is artfully handled, with excellent balance between the three major elements of the track, dialogue, music and effects.

Honeymoon in Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:10)

Honeymoon in Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There was a famous Elvis Presley album entitled 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong, to which I simply ask, "Who says?" The Elvis impersonator subplot that runs through Honeymoon in Vegas and which is highlighted in the crazy-goofy last act featuring an Elvis skydiving team shows Andrew Bergman at his best, skewering pop culture icons with a fair degree of abandon while catapulting his manic storyline forward. Unfortunately the rest of this film rarely rises to that level of enjoyable inanity and insanity, and too much of Honeymoon in Vegas is way too forced, especially within the absolutely improbable confines of the plot setup itself. Cage has rarely been more mannered (and that's saying a lot), and Parker is strangely somnambulant in this film. That leaves Caan to do the heavy lifting, and while he's game, there's simply too much for him to lift for this film to get off the ground. Fans of the film (and there are legions of them, I'm well aware) will probably enjoy this Blu-ray despite its less than stellar image quality, but others would do well to rent this title first to see if it's their cup of tea.