The 25 best films set in Las Vegas

Vegas, baby. Swingers made the careers of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau while also getting a bunch of twentysomething dudes in the ‘90s interested in taking a trip to Las Vegas with their friends. While the entire movie doesn’t take place there, you don’t have Swingers without Vegas.

Danny Ocean and his crew had three separate heist adventures in Las Vegas, each time adding another member to the crew. Or, so the numbers in the titles would indicate. We’re focused on the first movie in Steven Soderbergh’s trilogy, though. It’s where it all started and also naturally feels the freshest.

Martin Scorsese returned to the world of the mob after his hit film Goodfellas. Casino is maybe a little bloated, but it’s another top-notch crime movie from a man who makes them as well as anybody. Robert De Niro once again stars for his friend Marty — this time, as a mobster sent to Las Vegas to run operations out there.

Hunter S. Thompson is an acquired taste. Johnny Depp doing an impersonation of his friend Thompson, the godfather of “Gonzo journalism,” is a weird, trippy, druggy movie. It’s odd, and it doesn’t all hang together. However, Terry Gilliam was never going to adapt a Thompson book and not have it be a cult classic.

Rat Race was sort of an attempt to revamp It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but this time, instead of Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters, it’s…Jon Lovitz and Seth Green. OK, this madcap adventure isn’t as memorable as its likely inspiration. Still, it’s a fun comedy about a race from Las Vegas to Silver City, New Mexico, for a prize of $2 million.

Albert Brooks was a true auteur — starring, writing, and directing films that always felt very “Albert Brooks.” Lost in America is perhaps the quintessential Brooks movie. It’s about two misguided yuppies who set off on a grand adventure. An adventure derailed by a stop in Las Vegas.

If you know anything about Las Vegas history, you know that mobster Bugsy Siegel is largely credited with helping turn Vegas into the city of casinos and gambling it is today. He got a biopic eventually because, while he was not exactly a good guy, he was a weirdly critical figure in American history. Not only that, Warren Beatty plays Siegel in Bugsy. Annette Bening plays his love interest, which is where their relationship began.

Nicolas Cage has given some out-there performances and been in some schlock. Leaving Las Vegas is decidedly not that kind of movie. It’s a bleak drama about a man who heads to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. Somehow, it’s even darker than that sounds. However, it won Cage a Best Actor Oscar.

This movie was a box-office flop, but it is a quintessential Las Vegas film. It’s all about the cheap glitz of the city. Plus, it stars Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner! They play two men who have a plan to rob a casino during a convention of Elvis impersonators. A bunch of fake Elvises and a casino robbery? It sounds like a Vegas movie to us!

The Corleones have their hands in a lot of businesses, legitimate and otherwise. As Mafia members, this includes Las Vegas. As you may recall, Fredo is working for Moe Greene in Vegas during this movie. Michael also goes and visits Greene. We see Greene again after that, but it does not go great for him. Or his glasses.

Even if you haven’t seen this Best Picture winner, you likely know one part of Rain Man. Dustin Hoffman’s autistic savant Raymond plays blackjack at a Las Vegas Casino because he knows how to count cards. It’s permeated pop culture and stars not just Hoffman but Tom Cruise. They don’t really make movies of this ilk anymore.

When the Martians attacked the United States, they seemed focused primarily on two cities: Washington D.C., of course, but also Las Vegas. Jack Nicholson actually plays two roles in Tim Burton’s ludicrous, antic comedy. One is the President, but the other is a cowboy Las Vegas developer. Also, Danny DeVito gets high billing for a character known only as “Rude Gambler.”

Austin Powers may be a British superspy all about that swinging London, but when he is frozen and thawed decades later, he’s got to go where the action takes him. For one portion of this movie, that action is in Las Vegas. There, he poses as Richie Cunningham (alongside his wife, Oprah) and meets Dr. Evil’s femme fatale named, ahem, Alotta Fagina.

A few movies bridge the gap between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Swingers is one of those, but that’s about letting loose, having fun, and being money (baby). Go involves both cities, but this story is about drugs, violence, and young people making terrible mistakes. Interestingly, both movies are directed by Doug Liman.

Weird, Liman also directed the first Jason Bourne movie, but not this one, the fourth in the series (fifth, if you include the Jeremy Renner vehicle, The Bourne Legacy). As usual, Bourne is all over the place in this movie, but the conclusion of this spy saga takes place in Vegas.

The Hangover has sort of taken over the mantle of the epitome of the Vegas debauchery comedy. Does it hold up entirely? No. Do the sequels wear thin? Yes. Having said all that, The Hangover was a massive hit that captured the zeitgeist. It’s not just a defining Vegas film but a defining comedy of the 2000s.

Dustin Hoffman could count cards in Rain Man because of how filmmakers perceived autism at the time. In 21, they can count cards in blackjack because they are a bunch of math whizzes from MIT. This movie is based on a true story about the MIT Blackjack Team that skirted the regulations of Vegas to win big money by counting cards. It’s a fun film, though it is worth noting that the real MIT Blackjack Team was primarily Asian, while they are predominantly white in the movie.

The sequel to Miss Congeniality is a step down from the original, but that’s the case with most sequels. Nevertheless, Sandra Bullock was back, and that’s usually a good thing. Two of her character’s friends are kidnapped in Vegas, including the reigning Miss America, so Bullock has to head there to sort things out.

Nic Cage is back, though the movie is a bit lighter this time. Skydiving Elvis impersonators are involved. It’s about a couple that head to Vegas for a quickie wedding only to run into complications when a crooked gambler gets involved. It’s like a lighter version of Indecent Proposal with more Elvises.

James Bond hasn’t spent as much time in Vegas as you might have expected. In fact, Bond’s only real stint in Vegas came in Diamond are Forever. This is the movie where Sean Connery returned after leaving the franchise. He looked a little checked out. Also, this is a weird movie. On the other hand, Diamonds are Forever has a couple of memorable villains.

This is perhaps better known as the “partner swapping movie.” It’s become a reference due to that fact. It also has quite the cast, including Natalie Wood and Elliott Gould. Bob and Carol are a couple, and so are Ted and Alice. Things get messy. Specifically, messy in Las Vegas.

As we all know, Rocky and Ivan Drago box in the Soviet Union so that, when Rocky wins, he can basically end communism. However, before that happens, Drago boxes Apollo Creed. Not only that, Drago beats Apollo to death in perhaps the darkest moment in the Rocky franchise. That fight happens at the MGM Grand in Vegas.

You’d think every movie about gamblers would take place in Vegas. That’s not necessarily true. California Split, for example, never makes it to Vegas. The Gambler does, though. The late James Caan plays a professor who is a gambling addict and ends up in Sin City. It does not go well. Caan was nominated for a Golden Globe. Skip the remake with Mark Wahlberg.

Tony Scott loved to make kinetic, frantic, glossy films. Basically, he was perfect for Vegas. Domino stars Keira Knightley as the titular character, a model turned bounty hunter. Think that’s a ridiculous premise? She’s based on a real person! Domino’s work takes her to Vegas, where things get out of hand.

We’ve mentioned Elvis impersonators a couple of times. Why not end with the real deal? Elvis Presley and Vegas go hand in hand. Viva Las Vegas is the film that forever connected them. It’s also the name of the song that Elvis released for the film, which became one of his signature hits. You can’t talk about Elvis’ movie career or Las Vegas on screen without this movie.