Honeymoon in Vegas

Beautifully written and directed by Bergman, this paradoxically modern slice of nostalgia energetically revives the long mourned 'oddball' comedy. For once, Cage is pleasantly understated, playing the straight guy beset by nine shades of madness: lunatic mothers, deranged mobsters, singing Chieftains, and sky-diving Elvis impersonators by the dozen, they're all here in this joyous, uplifting romp. Read full review

Honeymoon in Vegas is a virtually nonstop scream of benign delirium, pop entertainment as revivifying as anything you're likely to see this year. It's a romantic farce in which the explosion of the epically earnest and funny central situation creates shock waves that leave no person or thing untouched. Even the film's bit players and extras are funny. Read full review

Honeymoon in Vegas is a bit corny and contrived, but the movie gradually levitates above its limitations thanks to its three leads, whose performances count among the best in their careers. Read full review

The plot loses its way in some of the later moments, as when Caan suddenly turns from a smoothie into a sinister, uptight threat (maybe it would have been funnier if he had simply continued to be a nice guy, to Cage's mounting frustration). But by then the movie has already inspired enough laughter to pay its way, and that's with the skydiving Elvis impersonators still to come. Read full review

[A] wacky but eminently watchable kitsch-mobile. Read full review

The pleasure of Bergman's style comes from the extremes that his characters must endure to arrive at that predictable point, and the new tricks that Bergman can teach to an old-dog story line. The airborne climax of "Honeymoon in Vegas" - involving those Flying Elvises (Utah Chapter!) that you've probably heard about by now - turns the ending of countless other movies into something new under the setting desert sun. [28 Aug 1992, p.3]

Cage perfectly expresses the rage and frustration of the postponed bridegroom, and Miss Parker is a real find. Caan completes the triangle with insidious charm. [28 Aug 1992]

A sometimes very funny comedy. [28 Aug 1992, p.C]

If Honeymoon in Vegas is funny -- and it is -- it doesn't exactly ring with structural perfection. You wouldn't go to see it again. But with wonderfully bizarre Nicolas Cage scrambling and screaming his way through the proceedings, "Honeymoon" never attempts anything greater than goofy. Read full review

Writer-director Andrew Bergman has a rare talent for intelligently conceived farce, and he has plenty of fun with the premise of "Honeymoon in Vegas," an adult twist on Damon Runyon's "Little Miss Marker." Sarah Jessica Parker is the saucy, sympathetic prize in a poker game between her divorce-detective fiance Nicolas Cage and sharkish Vegas gambler James Caan. The Columbia release is a bit rough around the edges but should make merry at the B.O. Read full review

Though Honeymoon in Vegas has one of his most accessible premises, Andrew Bergman has never been to everyone's taste and probably never will. He is something of a spritzer in the Mel Brooks mode, someone who spews out such a torrent of manic material that by definition not all of it is going to work. But in an age where screen comedy tends to fit snugly in a handful of pre-set synthetic molds, his all-natural craziness comes as a special treat. Especially if you like to laugh. [28 Aug 1992, p.F2]

Way oversold in movie theaters, this pleasantly small shaggy-dog comedy seems more at home on the small screen — even if you do forget why it is you’re smiling by the time the tape finishes rewinding. Read full review

Honeymoon in Vegas is a sweet but tepid comedy so short on real goofiness that when you do encounter some, you tend to be inordinately grateful. [28 Aug 1992, p.49]

Despite many uproarious bits, it also must be called disappointing - but I'm still obliged to, uh, treat it tender. [28 Aug 1992, p.5D]

Directed by Andrew Bergman, a sometime playwright (''Social Security'') and film maker of modest talent (''The Freshman''), ''Honeymoon in Vegas'' is lightweight, palatable stuff -- the kind of instantly forgettable romantic comedy that Hollywood made in the '60s with Jack Lemmon or Tony Curtis. [28 Aug 1992, p.C1]

Amusing but slow. [28 Aug 1992, p.AE17]

A screwball comedy, with two well-cast leads, with a pre-Sex and the City Parker and a amusing Cage. The plot is ridiculous but enjoyably so, with enough jokes to carry it for an hour and a half and a relatively fast pace prevents you from seeing the holes in the story. Read full review

An enjoyable though distinctly second-degree comedy by writer-director Andrew Bergman. Full of fun around the edges, it's rather flat and unfelt at the center. Read full review

These Elvis clones are just one aspect of the zany atmosphere in this sometimes-entertaining comic romp. Read full review

But the movie doesn't quite work. In fact, despite some funny moments, "Honeymoon" has so many blown scenes and missed opportunities that it makes one suspect that Bergman may not be the best interpreter of his own material. [28 Aug 1992]

Honeymoon in Vegas is what every stupid comedy should be to justify the price of admission, sadly it is no more than that. Read full review

Elvis impersonators may not be the freshest subject for comedy, but Bergman's sense of structure is sharp enough to develop a basic running gag (a convention is in town, with Elvises of every shape, size and color) into a spectacular final payoff. The parts are there but the whole, sadly, is not. [28 Aug 1992, p.B2]

Your basic, humdrum love story, Hollywood-style...The movie's soundtrack provides the most entertainment. Classic Elvis tunes such as Love Me Tender, Are You Lonesome Tonight and (You're the) Devil in Disguise plus others sung by Billy Joel, Amy Grant, Bryan Ferry, Dwight Yoakam and other contemporary pop and country stars keep the film groovin' -- but not enough to make this a Honeymoon worth remembering. [28 Aug 1992, p.G5]

THE MAN who would trade his fiancee - but just for the weekend! - for a $65,000 gambling debt may be rather sleazy, but it probably wouldn't raise many eyebrows in Las Vegas, where sleaze and the concept of woman-as-object have marched hand-in-hand for many years. ''Honeymoon in Vegas'' continues those precepts, and does so woefully, with dumb writing, ordinary direction and performances by Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan that are so awful as to be mind-boggling. [28 Aug 1992, p.3F]

Just when you think it's going to rollick, this lazy movie rolls over and plays dead When Honeymoon's ends, it's not a moment too soon. [28 Aug 1992]