Romantic comedies -- or as they are now dubbed, rom coms -- have really taken a hit lately. Recently there was the flop of "Made of Honor," but the overwhelming success of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

The newest of these genre films is "What Happens in Vegas..." and for all intensive purposes, this movie probably should have stayed in Vegas. Starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, this predictable comedy does have a moments of good humor, but then it is followed by screwball scenes that are only used as time fillers.

I liked this movie more than "Made of Honor," probably because I felt so let down by Patrick Dempsey and this type of film is something I would expect from Kutcher. He hasn't done anything really funny since "That '70s Show." Everyone is so used to seeing Diaz in this type of role that if she did anything else, like Jenny Everdeane in "Gangs of New York," people would be shocked.

Most romantic comedies have best friend roles. These are the people who will eventually be playing the characters Diaz and Kutcher have played so many times before. In "What Happens in Vegas..." Rob Corddry plays Kutcher's best friend while Lake Bell is Diaz's gal pal. These two make the movie bearable and OK to watch.

Director Tom Vaughan has been behind the camera directing episodes of a few different television shows. Vaughan directed "Starter for 10," another romantic-comedyesque movie from 2006. At some point I hope he branches out from this genre to do something more impactful.

Writer Dana Fox has written only one other screenplay, "The Wedding Date." "What Happens in Vegas..." is a very sophomoric effort on Fox's part. I understand that she's trying to break her way in to the Hollywood writing scene, but she's no Diablo Cody (Academy Award winner for best original screenplay for "Juno").

In "What Happens in Vegas..." Joy McNally (Diaz) is a wealthy and successful stockbroker who has a need to please people first and herself second. Her fianc? Mason (Jason Sudeikis) is also successful but realizes he doesn't want to marry Joy. Then there's Jack Fuller (Kutcher) who works for his dad's cabinet-making business. He's a slacker and as one woman put it, not boyfriend or husband material.

In order to forget about their problems they each go to Las Vegas with their best friends Hater (Corddry) and Tipper (Bell). Joy and Tipper check in to their hotel room, while getting ready for bed, Hater and Jack show up thinking that it's their room. Confusion ensues and Joy eventually convinces the hotel desk clerk to give them two complimentary pent house suites. After convincing them to go out on the town, Joy and Jack get extremely intoxicated and in the heat of the moment get married. The next morning, Jack puts one of Joy's quarters in to a slot machine and wins $3 million.

Back in New York Joy and Jack arrange to have their marriage annulled. But, the wise-cracking judge doesn't see it that way. He orders them to six months of hard marriage and once a week counseling with Dr. Twitchell (Queen Latifah) before they can receive the money. They instantly get on each other's nerves and but try to play nice so they can have their half of the money. Eventually though, the anger and hatred is replaced with warmth and caring, at least on Jack's part. In the end Jack and Joy have to decide if they want to give the marriage a try or if they want to split up and get $1.5 million each.

"What Happens in Vegas..." is so predictable that it wouldn't be a spoiler if I were to give away the ending. But for those of you who've already seen "Iron Man" or any other movie and would like to see this one, you'll laugh and probably enjoy parts of it, but you already know what's going to happen in the end.

missy@tooeletranscript.com

Grade: C

Rated: PG-13

Time: 99 minutes

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