What Happens in Vegas

Set in Sin City, storyline revolves around two strangers who wake up to discover they got married sometime during the previous night’s drunken festivities, with one of them winning a huge jackpot on the other’s quarter. The couple set out to undermine each other and claim the coin, only to fall in love along the way.
Director: Tom Vaughan
Writers: Dana Fox
Producers: Michael Aguilar, Shawn Levy, Jimmy Miller
Cast: Cameron Diaz (Joy McNally), Ashton Kutcher (Jack Fuller), Lake Bell (Tipper), Rob Corddry (Hater), Zach Galifianakis (Dave the Bear), Jason Sudeikis (Mason), Krysten Ritter (Kelly), Queen Latifah (Dr. Twitchell), Michelle Krusiec (Chong), Dennis Farina (Banger). Click here for full cast & crew
Genre: Comedy/Romance Budget: $35 million
Runtime: 99 minutes Box office (worldwide): $219,375,797
MPAA rating: PG-13 for some sexual and crude content, and language, including a drug reference.
Filming dates: August-October, 2007
Filming locations: New York City, NY / Las Vegas, Nevada
World premiere: April 22, 2008 in London, England
US release: May 9, 2008

Related Photos


More photos at our What Happens in Vegas gallery!

Movie Trivia

  • Cameron celebrated her 30th birthday on the set, and recieved flowers, cards and balloons from photographers and fans.
  • Joy’s party trick was performed by Cameron Diaz in another movie: Charlie’s Angel’s: Full Throttle during the recovery of the Halo rings.
  • In countries such as the UK and Australia, the DVD was the first film ever to include a Digital Copy with it.
  • Due to the passing of Cameron’s father, she was unable to attend the world premiere in London. She was, however, attending the LA premiere.

Movie Quotes

Tipper: You know what? I can get a couple of my brother’s loser ass friends to go over to Mason’s apartment , knock on the door and when he opens it wham! They’ll junk-punch him all up in his man business and he’ll fall to the floor whaling and crying “why?” and then we’ll say “you know why!”
Joy McNally: Wow! Did you just make that up?
Tipper: No, I thought about it a lot on the way over.

Jack Fuller: How hard can it be?
Joy McNally: I know how hard it isn’t.

Chong: Be whoever you want to be, you’ll still gonna be my subordinate.
Joy McNally: Excuse me?
Chong: It’s from the Latin, meaning “my bitch.”

Chong: I eat girls like you.
Joy McNally: You eat girls?
Chong: That’s not what I me…
Joy McNally: No, makes sense.
Chong: No! I’m not…
Joy McNally: Totally understandable.

Joy McNally: That’s just the topping I wanted on my popcorn. I know the box said its movie theater butter, but you guessed it. What I really wanted was Jack’s Sweaty ballsack flavor!
Jack Fuller: I’m just giving you what you want, baby.

Production Notes

Cameron Diaz thinks the film’s title evokes quite the vivid scenario. “Vegas is a 24-hour city,” she says, “you can’t tell what time it is, you don’t know how much money you’ve spent, how much you’ve drunk, how much you’ve slept, and so on. There’s kind of a built in safety net, though–because anything is possible in Vegas, you’re given the permission to basically do anything there that you’d probably never do anyplace else at any other time in your life.”

Diaz and Kutcher were both excited by the chance to bring the film’s kicky “what if” scenario to life. “I loved the script’s ‘grass is always greener’ theme,” confirms Diaz. “People in relationships often think their single friends are the lucky ones, while the singles just want to be in a relationship. In life, it’s ultimately about finding your own happiness. It’s not enough to be happy just because you’re in a relationship; first you need to be happy with yourself. That’s something I think my character Joy learns the hard way.”

Awards and Nominations

Nominated – Razzie Award – Worst Actress
Nominated – Razzie Award – Worst Screen Couple (shared with Ashton Kutcher)
Nominated – Teen Choice Award – Choice Movie Actress Comedy