Archie (Morgan Freeman) has recently recovered from a stroke and feels suffocated by the oversight of his protective pill-doling son, while Sam (Kevin Kline, where have you been?) is withering away in retirement community hell. Both are excited at the prospect of getting away from their lives for a few days, and are each aiming for a different type of enjoyment. Paddy (Robert De Niro), on the other hand, is cocooned up in his Brooklyn apartment, with no desire to frolic like a teenager any longer. A recent widower, Paddy is still bitter over the loss of his wife and very angry at Billy for not showing up for her funeral.
Once in Vegas, they meet Diana (Mary Steenburgen, striking even at 60), a divorced empty-nester trying to make it as a lounge singer. Right away, it's clear that both Paddy and Billy are taken with her, and she could easily be just the thing Paddy needs to get back to living, or perhaps, the first woman of his own age that Billy could have a relationship with. Either way, she could be the thing to tear them apart forever. Meanwhile, Archie is busy winning enough money at blackjack to get the boys a free suite for the weekend, and Sam -- little blue pill burning a hole in his pocket -- mistakenly hits on the cross-dressing Madonna-lookalike Maurice (Roger Bart), while trying to get laid.
The rest of the movie goes pretty much the way you would expect -- lots of old age jokes turn into "old school" cool by the end as these guys work out their differences and rule the Vegas strip like men half their age. I laughed a good bit, but felt that the humor was better punctuated in the trailers than played out in the film. Performances are solid, but it's disappointing that there are no surprises here. Beat for beat, director Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) knows what the audience expects, and for better or worse, delivers it every scene. This is harmless fun, but not the sort of material that befits the abilities of such heavy-hitters.
