The best you can say about “Last Vegas’’ is that this geriatric variation on “The Hangover’’ with Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline isn’t as awful as it could have been.
Sure, anyone with an aversion to hokey jokes about hemorrhoids, incontinence, funerals, hip replacements, hearing and sight loss, Viagra and erectile dysfunction might reasonably take a pass.
And Oscar winners De Niro, Douglas and Freeman coasting on their well-worn screen personas in this formulaic and superpredictable comedy is not exactly a recipe for fresh entertainment.
But the film at least achieves the level of mediocrity thanks to the professionalism of two slightly younger participants — Kline and Mary Steenburgen, who also have Oscars on their mantels but go well beyond phoning it in here.
The reunion of the four alter kockers from Flatbush is set into motion when Malibu attorney Douglas finally decides to get married for the first time, proposing to his much younger girlfriend in the middle of delivering a eulogy.
The most reluctant participant in the Vegas bachelor party is De Niro, a grumpy widower who’s angry with Douglas for not attending his wife’s funeral.
Freeman, who’s been held under virtual home arrest at his son’s house in New Jersey since suffering a minor stroke, is eager to booze it up and gamble.
So is senior citizen Kline, whose wife gives him a hall pass to cheat when she drops him off at the airport in Miami.
An inventive comic actor, Kline manages to put a spin on even the creakiest gags in the schmaltzy script by Dan Fogelman (“The Guilt Trip’’) — as when, removing his glasses, Kline makes a pass at a lady who turns out to be a middle-aged transsexual Madonna impersonator (Roger Bart).
Steenburgen also exudes some much-needed charm as a lounge singer who attracts the attention of both the engaged Douglas and the widowed De Niro — who, wouldn’t you know, were romantic rivals for De Niro’s late wife half a century or so ago.
When in doubt, throw in a montage, Vegas stock footage or a cameo appearance by 50 Cent — that seems to be the chief strategy of director Jon Turteltaub, whose rap sheet includes “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’’ and the two “National Treasure’’ films.
Thanks in no small part to Kline and Steenburgen, “Last Vegas’’ has its moments. When they’re not on-screen, beware of half-baked ham and hypoglycemic shock.