Now Showing: Zoe's Vegas

 

Zoe's Vegas

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Director: Judd Apatow

Writer: Jacob Jones 

Sequel to Zoe Maye

Cast: Selena Gomez, Megan Fox, Zac Efron, Madison Pettis, Zendaya, Keke Palmer, Pete Davidson

Plot: The movie begins the way the last ended, with Zoe Maye (Selena Gomez) standing on an altar during graduation, accepting her diploma. Through narration, Zoe gives a brief recap of the last movie’s events before answering what’s next for her…

“LAS VEGAS, BITCHES!”

Zoe hollers at her phone as she steps off a plane with Elise (Madison Pettis) and Joseph (Zac Efron). After posting her short vlog on YouTube, Elise rambles about all the things they’re going to do now that they’re here. Joseph then spots their limo from the distance. The three enter and take a glance at all the sights and sounds of Las Vegas. Finally, the limo arrives at Caesar’s Palace where a group of beefy Trojans ushers the trio in.

Zoe leads the way, checking in with the receptionist and heading to their room. The three settle down, Elise looking through the window, Joseph sitting on the bed and Zoe relaxing, looking up whatever irrelevant YouTube video she can find.

Elise then motions for Zoe to check out the window, the two amazed by all the lights. Joseph then asks Zoe if she could come over, taking his shirt off. He mentions something about Adam and Eve being one of God’s first creations, only for Zoe to tell him that they evolved from them. She jumps on the bed, playfully wrestling Joseph before engaging in a makeout session.

At 2:00 AM in the morning, Zoe heads out of bed to go to the bathroom. Once arriving at the women’s bathroom, she notices a crowd of people gathered around another woman in skimpy clothing. Unnerved by the sight, Zoe tries to ignore it, but the woman notices her and asks for her to come over.

Zoe does so, nervously staring at the woman, only for her to welcome her to Las Vegas. She introduces herself as Ayden Hoffer (Megan Fox) or as she’s better known in the adult film industry, Ayden Love. She proceeds to ask so many questions about life, while also repeatedly asking Zoe if she thinks she looks ‘hot’. Eventually, Zoe finds an out when another woman comes in but not before being invited out to lunch. Zoe tries to get out of it, but Ayden convinces her, saying it’ll be the ‘sexiest ticket of the party’.

The next morning, Zoe, Elise, and Joseph arrive at Gordon Ramsay Pub and Grill, waiting for Ayden. She arrives with a guy who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, her boyfriend, Tyson (Pete Davidson). As Ayden introduces him, Tyson nonchalantly waves at the group before sitting down.

As the five have lunch, Ayden constantly flirts with or flaunts herself to Joseph, making him and Zoe extremely uncomfortable. All the while, Tyson does nothing about it. At some point, Ayden asks Zoe how life is back at the Double Loop Strip Club and Bar. It’s there Zoe admits that she gave up stripping. Surprised, Ayden tries to goad Zoe, asking questions about why she quit. It reaches a point where Zoe asks Ayden if the two can talk in private.

Outside the restaurant, Zoe sternly tells Ayden that she’s uncomfortable with her flirting with her boyfriend and asking her personal questions. Ayden tries to frame it as herself introducing herself. Zoe then explains that she had an awful experience she had with a scummy individual. Ayden fakes sympathy but claims there is hypocrisy, mentioning that Zoe loved talking about ‘girl power’ back then and as such, she should support her fellow women. Overwhelmed, Zoe abruptly tells Ayden that she has to go and thanks her for the time before rushing inside to pick up Elise and Joseph.

Upon reentering their room, Zoe flops onto the bed, tears forming in her eyes. Joseph comes up to her and asks what happened. Zoe tells Joseph about Ayden, her rival back in the Double Loop Strip Club and Bar She also talks about how Ayden tried to ask her questions about life. Joseph hugs Zoe, saying that he was uncomfortable with how Ayden was flirting with him. The two agree to avoid Ayden and Tyson as much as possible.

This plan backfires the next day when Ayden enters the room, apologizing for yesterday’s conversation, wanting to make it up to them by inviting the group to a ‘killer’ night at Extra Lounge. Elise, wanting to give Ayden another chance, accepts the offer on behalf of Zoe.

That evening, Zoe, Joseph, and Elise arrive at the Extra Lounge, coming across Tyson and an Ayden dressed in only lingerie. What follows is a long night of drinking as everyone sans Elise and Zoe booze out. Several hours later, Zoe tends to a drunken Joseph when Ayden stumbles over to her, asking if she’s got her party on. Zoe bluntly tells her that it’s late and they need to go to their room. As she says this, Tyson loudly calls her a ‘prude’. Zoe turns around, confronting Tyson. The most intoxicated of the bunch, Tyson asks Zoe how someone be such a prude.

The two argue, causing a small crowd to build up before Tyson calls Zoe a ‘pussy’. Outraged, Zoe tells a bartender to give her twenty-five shots. Zoe proceeds to blaze through them all, her inhibitions fading in the process. After drinking the final shot, Zoe flashes Tyson before smashing the final shot cup to the ground and standing on the top of the chair, screaming loudly.

“I AM ZOE, HEAR ME ROAR!!!!”

The next day, Elise wakes up a hung-over Zoe. When asked what happened, Elise explains to Zoe that she fell off the chair and vomited on the floor, got naked, and locked Joseph in the car. Humiliated, Zoe apologizes to Elise, and the two head out. Zoe unlocks the car door and wakes Joseph up, not telling him about what happened.

Only a few minutes later, Zoe hears a knock on the door. She finds Ayden, naked from having sex with Tyson. She then invites Zoe to shop with her at the mall, claiming to have gotten close to her. Zoe tries to make it clear that she’s not interested, only for Ayden to mention the incident that happened last night. Fearing where the conversation may go, Zoe reluctantly agrees. Ayden walks off, telling Zoe to wear her ‘most alluring’ attire, because ‘her girls’ are going to be joining them.

That afternoon, Zoe tries to keep it low-key, finding Ayden and Tyson at The Forum Shops. Ayden then introduces the group to ‘her girls’, Skyler (Peyton List), Aleisha (Keke Palmer), and Lillie (Zendaya). The group all make their way to Armani where they begin shopping for new designer clothing. One thing that becomes noticeable is that Ayden’s friends love to flaunt themselves, showing off their bodies, flirting with any guy that comes their way, and talking about how hot they are (though Skyler is noticeably more reluctant).

As the day goes on, Tyson gets a close-up of Elise and tries to lift her skirt only to be stopped by Joseph. Tyson keeps trying to pull it up only to be slapped away by Joseph. It gets to a point where the two get into a fight, ending with Joseph knocking Tyson out. Tyson is then transported to the hospital where a teary-eyed Ayden asks a doctor if he’ll be alright. The doctor ensures Ayden that Tyson is okay. He’s just got a minor concussion. Ayden heads out of the E.R, coming face to face with Zoe who tries to apologize. Ayden angrily accuses Zoe of planning this on purpose and that she’ll have to answer for this.

That afternoon, Ayden tells her friends that they need to get back at Zoe for what happened and decides that they need to break Zoe and Joseph up. She hands Skyler, Aleisha, and Lillie wigs and tells them to pretend to be strippers. Skyler raises her hand, concerned about the idea. Ayden is about to explain the rationale when Aleisha tells her that she can handle this.

Aleisha then tries to give Skyler a pep talk explaining that if they do this, they’ll get opportunities to be in movies like Ayden says. Lillie begins to fantasize about all the ‘plump dicks’ she can have and starts masturbating much to the shock of Skyler. Adjusting herself, Lillie suggests a girls night out before actually going forward with the plan. Aleisha agrees to it, pressuring Skyler to join them.

At the Alto Bar, Aleisha and Lillie dance provocatively with a few beefed-up jocks. Skyler stays by the bar table, eating shrimp and calamari. Late in the evening, Skyler checks on Aleisha and Lillie, who at this point are wasted. Aleisha soon realizes that they have to do the plan and stuffs the wigs on everyone’s head.

In Zoe’s room, Joseph reads through the Bible when he hears a knock on the door. He goes to get it and finds the three girls swaying and stumbling over themselves, introducing themselves as Allie, Lucinda, and Molly, three strippers brought by Elise. Joseph doesn’t buy it but watches them force themselves in.

Aleisha and Lillie get on the bed, ready to give Joseph the ‘orgy of his life’. Skyler stays behind before being pressured by Lillie to join them. Aleisha takes Joseph’s shirt off as Lillie licks his ear. Aleisha tells Skyler to take his pants off but the moment Skyler touches his pant legs is when she cracks, repeatedly claiming she can’t do it. Around this time, Zoe re-enters the room and upon seeing a visibly distraught Skyler crying and Aleisha and Lillie sitting around with a half-naked Joseph, she asks this simple question:

“What the fuck?”

Seeing Zoe, Skyler walks up to her and comes clean about the whole thing. Zoe gives her a hug and asks if she has a ride home. Skyler admits that she doesn’t, Ayden never giving them one. Joseph and Zoe agree to let them sleep here for the night, realizing the nature of the situation. Elise then walks in, seeing everyone and asking if she missed something.

The next morning, Zoe sits with the now fully clothed girls at a Starbucks. Zoe then tries to know more about the three and learns that they are close friends who struggled to figure out what to do with their lives until they met Ayden. All Aleisha and Lillie like to do is fantasize about men and show off their ‘voluptuous bodies’. Skyler goes deeper, however, revealing that she has an interest in painting and was hoping to make it a full-time career only to learn that it doesn’t pay well. She then calls out Aleisha and Lillie, saying that Aleisha used to love going for jogs and Lillie was great at karaoke before meeting Ayden.

Now realizing the root of the issue, Zoe tells them that as women, they deal with a lot of shit from guys. As such, they need to stick together and stand strong. However, they also need to avoid toxic influences. Ayden is that influence. She asks Aleisha and Lillie when the last time they did their favorite activities were. Aleisha then remembers being on track and having dreams of being in the Olympics and Lillie with her hopes of going into American Idol and becoming a star.

Realizing that they’ve been led astray, Aleisha and Lillie apologize to Skyler and Zoe for everything. Zoe forgives them, having known from experience. She tells them what happened when she tried to break into the adult film industry, only to be objectified and dehumanized by a disgusting human being named Ken Stars.

Despite this, Zoe says that she’s just one person and that if this is what they want to pursue, she won’t stop them. It’s when they take one thing and make it their entire personality that it becomes a problem. Aleisha and Lillie opt to return to their normal lives. They ask Zoe to help them and she agrees, arranging a girls’ night out tomorrow.

Outside the Starbucks however, an enraged Ayden storms in and calls out Zoe. From there, a fight ensues as the two tumble onto the ground and rip at their hair. Security personnel drags the two ladies apart when an angered Zoe asks Ayden what she’s getting out of this. In a frenzy, Ayden tells Zoe that the woman she sees before her wasn’t always like this. In fact, she was a lot like Zoe.

A flashback reveals that Ayden was a lot like Zoe. Young, immature, and unsure of where her life was going. So she entered the Double Loop Strip Bar and Club, finding work as a stripper. She rose up the ranks, thanks to her good looks and work ethic, though she gained a reputation for being a little egocentric. When Zoe came in, Ayden was supposed to mentor her. But every chance she got, Zoe blew her off. One night, it all came to a head. Zoe pulled off a prank that caused facial damage on Ayden. When called out on it, Zoe went off, calling Ayden a narcissistic bitch and that she was the real queen of the club. When the boss got involved, Zoe put together a sob story that painted her as an innocent victim and got Ayden fired.

The firing caused Ayden to develop an obsession with outdoing Zoe, so she followed all of Zoe’s social media platforms under an alias to get an understanding of what she did so she could do it better. She tearfully exclaims that she didn’t want this life. A life where she’s constantly objectified and has to deal with constant plastic surgeries and a boyfriend who only likes her cause of the sex.

Horrified, Zoe apologizes profusely to Ayden, not realizing how her actions negatively impacted her. The fact she led her down this path is the worst part of it all, however. Through the tears, Ayden smiles, thanking Zoe and saying that this was what she wanted all along. She then tells her former friends that they’re free to go and walks off.

The next morning, the media reports on her disappearance. Zoe listens in, saddened over how everything turned out. Elise comes up to her, telling her that she tried her best and that one day, Ayden will find her happiness. They then hear a knock on the door, finding Skyler, Aleisha, and Lillie together.

The five girls spend the entire day together, even partaking in their favorite activities. Aleisha gets to run a race with the girls, winning it with relative ease. Lillie also reconnects with her love of singing, even if she admits to being a little rusty. At the end of the day, Skyler happily tells Zoe that they should do it again only for Zoe to tell her that tomorrow, she’s going home.

On the final day, Joseph makes sure everything is packed before turning to Zoe as she stares out the window. She asks Joseph if everything was as they planned. Joseph smiles, saying it was all that and more before kissing her on the cheek. The three friends head out of the hotel, waiting for their Uber to the airport when Skyler comes up to them, saying she has a surprise.

Aleisha and Lillie then come in, revealing a picture of Zoe they made together. Touched, Zoe thanks Skyler for the picture and the five share an embrace. The Uber arrives, Zoe promising to stay in touch with the girls whenever possible. As the Uber drives off, Zoe looks out the window and takes a final look at the skyline of Las Vegas, and smiles, declaring this the best vacation ever.