1992's Honeymoon in Vegas is a Modest Comedy That Does Everything Right, Particularly in the Casting of James Caan as Nicolas Cage's Worthy Opponent

If you were asked to describe the enduring enigma that is Nicolas Cage in a single word I suspect “everyman” would be low on the list and “genius”, “madman” and “artist” would be at the top. 

Yet when Cage’s lovestruck detective protagonist in 1992’s Honeymoon in Vegas describes himself as an everyman the label feels accurate. After the soul-deep scuzz bath that is Zandalee, Cage cleaned up nicely and got professional and presentable in a solid mainstream romantic comedy that scored him a much deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical. 

We see a new side of Cage in 1992’s Honeymoon in Vegas but the role of Jack Singer smartly calls upon the cult icon to both get the girl and spend much of the film in a state of sweaty, feverish desperation as he obsessively tries to undo a mistake so vast it threatens to ruin his life, or at least his best chance for happiness. 

Jack’s problems start with his mother Bea (a wonderfully tart Anne Bancroft), who asks him never to get married as her dying wish. That is a VERY big ask even if you’re very close to your son. Not surprisingly, Bea’s dying words make a deep impression on her commitment-phobic progeny. 

So even when Jack meets the perfect woman in Betsey (a radiant Sarah Jessica Parker), a schoolteacher with the body of a goddess, he’s reluctant to pull the trigger until he finally decides to overcome his fear and conquer his mommy issues by proposing en route to a quickie Vegas wedding. 

In Vegas, Betsey is spotted by millionaire gambler Tony Bookman (James Caan) who falls hopelessly in love with her at first sight. Betsey looks exactly like the high roller’s wife, who died at thirty-seven of skin cancer, leaving a massive hole in her widower’s heart that he seems to have filled pretty successfully with money and power and beautiful women. 

The older man sees a once in a lifetime opportunity to have his soulmate back. So he sets about separating Betsey from her fiancé so that he can have a shot at wooing her himself. The canny operator gets his opportunity when he suckers Jack into a “Welcome to Vegas” card game by pretending to be an easy mark. 

Jack thinks he’s got a can’t lose hand so he risks a small fortune, only to end up sixty-five thousand dollars in debt to his romantic rival when the professional gambler wins through the magic of cheating. Tony offers to wipe Jack’s debt off the books on the condition that he let Betsey spend a weekend with him talking and getting to know each other, with no sex involved. 

It’s an offer Jack should refuse but he’s a rube in over his head with seemingly no other way out, so he very reluctantly acquiesces. Betsey agrees even more reluctantly out of a complicated combination of emotions. She’s understandably angry at her boyfriend for behaving so recklessly and renting her out to a man of wealth and power as a means of paying off a debt but she also loves him and doesn’t want to start their life together under a black cloud of insurmountable debt. 

Finally, Betsey is at least a little intrigued and flattered that such a successful man would be so obsessed with her that he would transgress all the rules of propriety and make such a bold play for her time and attention. 

Jack’s conception of romance is not terribly dissimilar from that of a reality show Casanova. He posits himself as a true romantic looking for once, or in his case, twice in a lifetime love. The gambler dazzles and overwhelms the object of his desire with ostentatious displays of wealth, money and power, like jetting off to Hawaii on a moment’s notice for a glamorous weekend at his vacation home. He brings up marriage and commitment way too early and introduces an insanely abbreviated, unrealistic timeline for getting hitched that almost inherently ensures that things won’t ever get that far. Finally, he looks on with chagrin as everything falls apart. 

Honeymoon in Vegas defies Hollywood’s cult of likability with three main characters who all do things that would seemingly turn audiences against them in a big way. Our lovable hero gambles money he doesn’t have, then essentially rents out his girlfriend to a big macher who clearly desires her sexually and romantically. Our heroine allows herself to be rented out for a weekend to a complete stranger with a lot of power and money, then says yes to his marriage proposal despite already being engaged to a man of more modest means. 

Tommy is undoubtedly the villain of the film, a scoundrel who lies, cheats and manipulates in his bid to drive a permanent wedge between a good man from his fiancé permanently but he’s also written and acted with a great deal of affection. Tommy is genuinely besotted with Betsey the same way he clearly adored his late wife. He’s a true romantic who does a lot of terrible things for bad reasons but writer-director Andrew Bergman, whose screenwriting career contains such credits of distinction as Blazing Saddles, The In-Laws, Soapdish and Fletch makes it easy to see how Betsey could find Tommy’s luxurious life appealing.  

Honeymoon in Vegas and Adrian Lyne’s overwrought 1993 erotic drama Indecent Proposal have very similar premises but Bergman’s romantic comedy manages to be a much more complex, emotionally nuanced drama than Indecent Proposal despite being a comedy. 

There’s a great scene in Honeymoon in Vegas’ third act when Betsy has finally caught her breath long enough to realize that she’s gotten in hopelessly over her head in agreeing to marry a man she barely knows. So she tries to slow things down and maybe get to know Tommy before marrying him and his tone subtly but unmistakably shifts.

With a chill in his voice, the millionaire sternly informs Betsy that she said yes to his marriage proposal and people do not say no to a man like him. In his mind, she does not have a choice in the matter: he wants her, he pursued her, she said yes and that is the end of the story. He does not want a partner or an equal: he wants a much younger trophy wife he can show off and control.

In that moment the spell is broken. The seduction process ends abruptly and the schoolteacher sees her suitor for who he really is: a man of violence and intimidation who will do anything to get what he wants and does not care who he hurts in the process. 

Tommy’s body language takes on a menacing quality. Thanks in no small part to Caan’s macho magnetism and the splendor of his Hawaii wonderland, the actor succeeds in seducing the audience as well as Betsy even if we know more about his duplicity than she does initially. 

hey, it’s li’l Bruno Mars as the youngest of many Elvis impersonators! Seriously.

It’s a dramatic scene charged with tension and more than a hint of looming violence that makes sense thematically and emotionally because a guy like Tommy makes his living understanding the emotions and tells of other people. A professional gambler is by definition someone with a keen practical grasp of human psychology who is adept at manipulating people for money and advantage. 

Tommy sweeps Betsy off her feet and gets her to say yes to marriage using the same combination of guile, intelligence and cunning he employs to fleece her fiancé for sixty-five thousand dollars. Betsey is attracted to Tommy because he’s rich, and powerful, and attractive and charismatic and clearly loved his dead wife very much but also because he’s very intelligent. But that intelligence cuts both ways; he’s someone who is clearly used to outsmarting people. In that disillusioning moment, Betsy can see that she’s been outsmarted but also that she does have a choice. 

Betsy chooses a fundamentally decent man who made a bad mistake over a bad man with the right moves in time to be the perfect audience for a gesture that’s dramatic even by the outsized standards of romantic comedies. 

In his mad quest to keep Betsy from marrying Tommy, Jack hitches a ride from Hawaii to Vegas with the Flying Elvises, sky-divers who leap out of airplanes dressed up like the King in flashy, expensive light-up Elvis attire. Jack is all nerves, anxiety and heart-pounding terror as he prepares to make his virgin dive alongside a murder of Elvi all amped up on adrenaline and testosterone while Vegas glitters like a diamond in the distance. 

Movies that end strongly tend to be remembered more fondly than movies that start strong and fade. Honeymoon in Vegas is rock solid from start to finish, a deeply satisfying exercise in comic craftsmanship but the Flying Elvises set-piece helped ensure the movie would linger in the public mind and imagination despite being a fairly light comedy that did good but not great critically and commercially. 

Cage proved unexpectedly perfect for the role of Jack Singer. We forgive his terrible mistakes because he seems genuinely, deeply remorseful and ashamed but also because Cage is so innately likable. Jack spends much of Honeymoon in Vegas absolutely out of his mind with shame and jealousy and soul-deep desperation. That suits Cage’s method actor intensity and wildly expressive face and body perfectly. 

#AttractiveCouple

The more Jack looks like the yuppie ghoul Cage played in Vampire’s Kiss, the more I enjoyed Cage’s performance. In the chill, laid-back paradise of Hawaii, Jack is the tensest, most tightly wound human being on the planet. 

Honeymoon in Vegas is a rarity: a mainstream studio romantic comedy with smarts and substance, that looks fantastic and has three-dimensional, complicated characters worth caring about. 

The early 1990s light studio comedy phase of Cage’s career is neither fondly remembered nor particularly distinguished but his wildly appealing performance here and in Valley Girl suggest that maybe he should have made more romantic comedies because he’s damn good at it as long as the script is good and the director knows what they’re doing.  

Did you miss the Kickstarter campaign for The Fractured Mirror, the Happy Place’s 600 page opus about EVERY American movie ever made about the film industry? Then you’re in luck! You can still make the magic happen over at Make it happen over at https://the-fractured-mirror.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s first non-"Weird Al” Yankovic-themed book is out! And it’s only 16.50, shipping, handling and taxes included, 30 bucks for two books, domestic only! 

Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop

Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al  here and The Weird Accordion to Al here

Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace We just added a bunch of new tiers and merchandise AND a second daily blog just for patrons! 

Alternately you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al, signed, for just 19.50, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here.

I make my living exclusively through book sales and Patreon so please support independent media and one man’s dream and kick in a shekel or two!