Honeymoon in Vegas

Private Detective ("Private eye") Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) has sworn to his mother while she was on her deathbed that he would never get married. He and girlfriend, Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) are in a relationship, and based on her gentle but constant expressing of doubt, and her desire to get married and start a family, he proposes a quick Las Vegas marriage. They check into the Bally's Casino Resort.

Before the wedding, however, a wealthy professional gambler, Tommy Korman (James Caan), sees Betsy and notices a striking resemblance to his beloved late wife Donna. He arranges a crooked poker game (with Jerry Tarkanian as one of the other players) where Jack borrows $65,000 after being dealt a straight flush (7-8-9-10-Jack of clubs), only to lose to the gambler's higher straight flush (8-9-10-Jack-Queen of hearts); Tommy, however, promises to erase the debt – if he can spend the weekend with Betsy.

After getting Tommy to agree to no sex, the desperate couple agrees. Jack tries desperately to get Betsy back and discovers that Tommy has taken her to Kauai, Hawaii, where he has a vacation home. The gambler also has a taxi driver friend, Mahi Mahi (Pat Morita), and asks him to keep Jack as far as possible from him and Betsy. Jack discovers this, steals the taxi, and sees Betsy outside the Kauai Club, where he's attacked by Tommy and arrested. Jack's dentist friend, Sally Molars (John Capodice), bails Jack out of jail. Mahi Mahi meets Jack outside and admits that Tommy left for Las Vegas with Betsy and has convinced her to marry him. Mahi races Jack to the airport. Betsy decides she cannot go through with the wedding and escapes from Tommy.

Meanwhile, after changing many planes and finding himself stuck in San Jose, Jack tries frantically to find a flight to Las Vegas. Finally, he finds a group about to depart for Las Vegas, but, much to his surprise, finds out mid-flight that they are the Utah chapter of the "Flying Elvises" – a skydiving team of Elvis impersonators. Jack now realizes that he will have to skydive from 3,000 feet in order to get to Betsy. Jack eventually is able to overcome his fear and lands and spots Betsy, which then ruins Tommy's plans.

The final scene shows Jack and Betsy getting married in a small Las Vegas chapel with the Flying Elvises as guests, Jack still in his white illuminated jumpsuit and Betsy in her stolen showgirl outfit.

• James Caan as Tommy Korman
• Nicolas Cage as Jack Singer
• Sarah Jessica Parker as Betsy Nolan Singer/Donna Korman
• Peter Boyle as Chief Orman
• Seymour Cassel as Tony Cataracts
• Pat Morita as Mahi Mahi
• Johnny Williams as Johnny Sandwich
• John Capodice as Sally Molars
• Bruno Mars (credited as Bruno Hernandez) as Little Elvis
• Robert Costanzo as Sidney Tomashefsky
• Anne Bancroft as Bea Singer
• Tony Shalhoub as Buddy Walker
• Burton Gilliam as Roy Bacon
• Clearance Giddens as Black Elvis
• Ben Stein as Walter
• Brent Hinkley as Vern

Director and writer Andrew Bergman said about the film, "It wasn't based on anything. I wanted to do a boy-girl story, and in my perverse fashion, it turned out to be this."[1] The film's budget was $25 million.[2]

Filming began in August 1991,[3] and was underway in Las Vegas as of September.[4] Bally's Casino Resort was among the filming locations in Las Vegas.[3] Las Vegas' Chapel of the Bells wedding chapel was also used for filming.[5] Other filming locations included New York, and Culver Studios in California.[3]

Filming in Kauai was concluded as of November 1991.[3] Among the filming locations in Kauai was the Inn on the Cliffs restaurant, located at the Westin Kauai Hotel.[6] Filming also took place at Kauai's National Tropical Botanical Garden.[7] A house on Anini Beach was used as Tommy Korman's Hawaiian residence.[7][8] The film was initially rated R for language, and was edited to instead receive a PG-13 rating.[3]

A premiere event was held for the film at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 25, 1992.[9] The film was released theatrically on August 28, 1992.[3]

The soundtrack was composed mainly of covers of Elvis Presley songs performed by country and pop/rock artists.[11][12] Also included are the ramblings of Chief Orman when Mahi Mahi takes Jack to his Chief's shack instead of Korman's beach side mansion. The score is by David Newman.

Bergman says when he finished the film he thought it might make a good musical. He was distracted making movies but then had open heart surgery in 2001. "When you have open-heart surgery, you say, what do I really want to do? What haven't I done? I thought it'd be great to do a musical."[1]

Jason Robert Brown, a composer, had always wanted to do Honeymoon as a musical and wrote some songs on spec. He and Bergman agreed to collaborate. "We certainly were looking to do a real book musical that isn't really done much anymore," said Bergman. We wanted the sound to be of the '60s and '70s—not that it's a throwback, but we wanted that sound. We wanted to be a brassy, come and love us kind of show."[1]

A big change from the movie was the character of the mother was kept alive. "Having her recur is a great thing for the show," said Bergman. "It keeps her spirit alive and it keeps his mishigas alive. That was a real change."[1]

A musical stage version of the movie was written by Jason Robert Brown (music and lyrics) and Andrew Bergman (book). A Broadway-bound production was expected to debut in Toronto in November 2012, starring Tony Danza as Tommy Korman.[13] However, the Toronto premiere was canceled,[14] and production was transferred to the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey instead with Danza remaining. The Paper Mill production opened on September 26, 2013 and ran through October 27.[15] The musical began previews on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre on November 18, 2014, and opened officially on January 15, 2015. Direction is by Gary Griffin with choreography by Denis Jones. The cast features Tony Danza, Rob McClure and Brynn O'Malley, who were also in the Paper Mill production.[16]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Honeymoon in Vegas

• Honeymoon in Vegas at IMDb
• Honeymoon in Vegas at Box Office Mojo
• Honeymoon in Vegas at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Flying Elvi