Venus & Vegas

Writing comedy is hard...and this is just dreadful.

Eddie kay Thomas is one of the least capable actors of doing comedy.

Doing his stunt in American Pie movies does not constitute a good actor or a good comedian.

He's lifeless and tiring to watch in everything he is in. The script is lousy and the comedy is missing in this movie and having Eddie in this film does not do any wonders in something that is already dreadful.

If you like a disorganized cornball Vegas movie full of simps who call their girls while their friends get robbed then this is the one for you. Acting guaranteed to make you cringe until you get whiplash.

I always like to consider the mood I was in before I started watching any movie and the mood I am left in after the movie ends. There are movies such as in the case with Venus & Vegas that I find leave me with that satisfied feeling of coming out of the movie theater on a Saturday afternoon. It is simple in plot, moves along at a steady pace, has numerous characters (some you like, and some you don't) and with pockets of silly humor that lighten my thoughts to consider "life should be simple".

The movie consists of a good cast with actors Eddie Kaye Thomas, Donald Faison, and Eddie Guerra as three buddies who devise a get rich scheme to rob a Las Vegas warehouse of fake gambling chips that just happens to be owned by a mobster played by character actor Joe Polito.

Of course the three main characters have women coming in and out of their lives and these actresses not only make good eye candy but hold their own strong character portrayals which adds good content and more humor to the movie. The girlfriends are played by Molly Sims, Roselyn Sanchez and Jaime Pressly.

Another good performance was also played by Abraham Benrubi as Bruno, the muscle for Jon Polito's mobster character Frank. With lots of action and miscues and lots of interesting characters I quite enjoyed Venus & Vegas and I will make sure to watch it again when I need to forget about everything and escape in to a good mood for 95 minutes.

An unfunny movie that is all over the place plot-wise, yet isn't nearly as clever or funny to keep one interested, much less entertained. I felt bad for the one notable actor in the film, Jon Polito, who appears to be slumming it in this tale of a trio of idiot petty criminals who run afoul of the local mafia boss. There's also a few side-plots, one involving Jamie Pressly being the same character she always plays, the other two are more ridiculous. Not ridiculous in a funny way, just stupid and inconsequential.

Anyway, I know humor is very subjective but I hardly managed a grin much less a laugh from this dreary little film.Having seen it on Netflix I didn't exactly go out of my way to view it. So silver lining and all.

Lots missing in this movie. Has a pretty good cast but was just lacking. The story didn't develop like I wanted it to. Lots of weird things happening with the directing. I guess it was also too much crime, and not much Vegas style things going on.

Might be worth a watch.

2 stars