The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

Reviewed by:
John DeVore

We drew the short straw and were forced to spend last Saturday morning in line with 300 screeching, Ritalin-buzzed kids, all waiting to see a preview of The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. Apparently, some imbecilic studio exec couldn’t quite get enough of the original Flintstones that starred John Goodman and Rick Moranis, so producers stitched together this bargain-basement prequel, stocked it with a sad cast of also-rans, and peppered it with jokes so wretchedly awful they could have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

It’s the same old cavemen-meet-cavegirls story as Fred and Barney (The Full Monty’s Mark Addy and the eternally cursed Stephen Baldwin, respectively) finish their training at the quarry and go looking for love. They find it in the form of Wilma and Betty, played by Third Rock From The Sun’s Kristen Johnson and Ally McBeal’s Jane Krakowski (actually a marked improvement over the original’s Rosie O’Donnell). Of course, something is rotten in Bedrock and the quartet are made the victims of a sinister plot that involves a surprise trip to Rock Vegas. All manner of prehistoric antics and mayhem ensue, and by the end of the movie you’ll be praying for a volcano to explode or a pack of velociraptors to make short work of these characters. Alan Cummings makes an amusing appearance as the Great Gazoo, an alien sent to Earth on a mission to observe humans, but even that needed diversion gets fossilized after a while. And for those who would go to this movie solely for the special effects, think again: This movie is so cheap, they even resort to recycling Muppets.

Share