What Happens in Vegas

Joy McNally has just been dumped by her fiancé, and Jack Fuller has just been fired by his own father. The two meet in Las Vegas, spend a drunken night together, and wake up to discover they have married each other. They agree to part ways, but the situation changes when Jack hits a three-million-dollar slot machine jackpot using a coin that belonged to Joy. Each wants the whole sum for themselves, and a judge freezes the winnings and orders the reluctant newlyweds to live together and attend counseling sessions for a set period before either can collect. Joy is a driven professional from New York, Jack an irresponsible charmer, and the two set about making each other miserable in the hope of forcing a divorce.

Tom Vaughan directed this 2008 comedy, his second feature after Starter for 10 (2006) and the one that came before Extraordinary Measures (2010), So Undercover (2012) and Some Kind of Beautiful (2014). Dana Fox wrote the screenplay, and the producers were Michael Aguilar, Shawn Levy and Dean Georgaris. Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher lead the cast as Joy and Jack, with Rob Corddry, Lake Bell, Jason Sudeikis and Treat Williams in supporting roles, part of a credited cast of 102.

Made for a budget of 35 million dollars, the film took about 219 million dollars worldwide, a strong return. Audiences received it modestly: on IMDb it holds 6.1/10 from around 195,000 votes, and on TMDB also 6.1/10 from roughly 3,400 votes. A critics' rating of 4.3/10 from 131 reviews places professional reception well below the audience scores.