COMEDY - THE WRITERS: HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP
There is, of course, something creepy about Tommy's proposition, and Bergman can't really overcome that. Part of the problem is while Parker is of course supposed to be a reluctant traveler, she still doesn't show much light when she's supposed to blossom under Tommy's attention (he's actually more romantic than Jack). It's hard to believe that after she so effortlessly lit up the screen in L.A. STORY that Parker could recede into the scenery so easily, but there you go. And while, once again, it's nice to see Caan in a restrained performance, his character undergoes a radical transformation in the very last act which seems out of place. And while Caan's struggle to play it straight in MISERY was in tune with the character, here he, too, seems muted.
Possibly Bergman meant that intentionally, because he has Cage, and some other wacky tangents to go on. Cage, of course, showed in MOONSTRUCK that he could do unbridled comic fury and somehow make it romantic, and he pulls the same trick here. And Bergman gives him plenty of chances to get wound tight, like when he's stuck in an airport line behind a passenger (Ben Stein) booking tickets a year in advance, or when he tells Betsy he thought he had Tommy beat at the card game because a "straight flush is like, unbeatable" (when Betsy points out it isn't, Jack snaps, "Hey, I know that now, okay?"), while also making it clear his feelings for Betsy. And while you might think Vegas is beyond satire, Bergman clearly thinks you're selling him short. As Mojo Nixon once said, Elvis is everywhere - in this movie, that is. There's an Elvis impersonators convention in town, there's an Elvis witness at Jack and Betsy's marriage, there's another one at the card game between Tommy and Jack (when Jack's unsure whether to bet, the Elvis guy croons, "Wise men say only fools rush in..."), and best of all, the flying Elvises - or rather, the skydiving Elvises. When he's stranded in Hawaii, Roy gets a ride from them, although their leader (Burton Gilliam) insists Roy get properly attired first. This celebration of the gaudy side of Elvis may offend some purists, but I prefer to think Bergman is keeping in tune with Jack, who like Elvis, has romantic longing side by side with unbridled fury (the soundtrack, which is all Elvis covers, ranges from pre-Army rock-n-roll
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