The key to enjoying the new comedy Last Vegas is to enjoy watching its acclaimed and talented cast cut loose.  Four older men (Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline) head to Las Vegas to celebrate perpetual bachelor Douglas finally tying the knot — with a much younger woman.  The film plays like a senior version of The Hangover — much tamer and with far better taste, but with many of the same character issues.

Watching these men make fools of themselves was much more entertaining than I expected, partly because they do get to cut loose a bit.  Freeman is hilarious after sampling several Red Bull martinis, and De Niro is grumpier than he has been since the great Midnight Run (1988).  Douglas riffs on his Hollywood glamour image but Kline seems like a fifth wheel, especially with his trite plot line.  A saving grace is the glowingly wondrous Mary Steenburgen who charms and sings her way into all of their hearts.  As well as mine; I think she’s great.

Jon Turtletaub’s film is in no way spectacular or even special, but it is engaging and occasionally funny.  It does play like a geriatric edition of The Hangover, without that crass comedy’s excess and tastelessness.  I wouldn’t recommend this to snobby film enthusiasts, but regular audiences not expecting anything Oscar-worthy should be entertained.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  21 November 2013.