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Posted: Mar 27, 2008 in Movies
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"21" is but the latest in a long line of movies set in and are about Las Vegas, and it's hardly the best. Here are a few movies set in Sin City. What's your favorite Vegas movie?
Ocean's 11: I've never seen the Rat Pack original, but Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Cheadle, Roberts and their bretheren just ooze cool like they have an ice infection. The scene between Damon and Bernie Mac ("Might as well call it Whitejack.") is hilarious.
The Cooler: An underappreciated film about an old school casino "cooler" (William H. Macy) whose bad luck quashes gamblers' winning streaks. When he meets Lady Luck (in the form of Maria Bello's downtrodden waitress) his luck changes, which makes his boss (an absolutely out of this world Alec Baldwin) a little upset. Baldwin makes the film as he is initially sympathetic, only to reveal himself as a vicious bastard.
Swingers: The film that introduced the world to Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. The film centers on Trent (Vaughn) and Mike (Favreau) as two of a group of LA-resident buddies who head to Vegas for an evening of fun, drinks, gambling and girls. The only problem is Mike is obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, which causes him to inexplicably bomb with every woman he talks to. Not so much a Vegas film as it is a character-driven drama, but it's charming and immenently quotable.
Rain Man: Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) isn't so thrilled to find he has an autistic brother (Dustin Hoffman) who has inherited all of his late father's money, but loves him to death when he finds out he's a veritable card-counting prodigy. So they head to Vegas, win some cash and rekindle the bond they had as young children. If you've never seen it, it's a classic film, Cruise's best performance with short hair.
Showgirls: See the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas showgirls and the undercutting, backstabbing, and down-the-stairs pushing behind the scenes, and all of the lesbian undertones, menstrual cycles, and wild thrashing pool sex when the show is over. The classic train wreck film to see of the 90s, if you haven't seen this film, you're missing out on the quintessential so-bad-its-good film of our generation.
Leaving Las Vegas: A feel-good movie about a guy who decides to drink himself to death and the hooker who loves him.