作家本杰明·密(马特·达蒙 Matt Damon 饰)生性喜爱冒险,然而半年前的丧妻之痛令他至今无法释怀,儿子迪伦和小女儿洛希同样不能适应失去母亲的生活,迪伦因偷窃和阴暗的美术创作导致被学校开除,本杰明没有听从哥哥邓肯的建议,拒绝从新的爱情中获取乐观心态,也放弃了专栏写 作,筹划和儿女换到全新的环境继续生活。而本杰明的新家居然是一座荒废的动物园!因为看到了洛希和动物的友好接触,本杰明决定接收这座还收留着众多动物的野生动物园,并带领管理人凯莉(斯嘉丽·约翰逊 Scarlett Johansson 饰)率领的留守团队重新修葺动物园,希望在夏季开放之前,迎来动物园的再度营业和自己家庭的新生……
本(尼古拉斯•凯奇 Nicolas Cage 饰 )一个是贫困潦倒的编剧,终日借酒消愁,被公司开除后,郁郁不得志的他变卖了所有的家当,前去拉斯维加斯开始了他慢性自杀的计划。他打算在几周的时间内,喝酒至死。在光怪陆离的拉斯维加斯,醉醺醺的他遇见了妓女莎拉(伊丽莎白•苏 Elisabeth Shue 饰)。莎拉过着同样不幸的生活:被皮条客控制自由,屡次出逃不遂。本和莎拉共度了一夜,这夜他们互相倾诉,同是天涯沦落人。
二人很快同居,但莎拉并不阻止本继续狂饮。本在自己的世界里沉溺得越来越深,直到有一天和另一个女人躺在莎拉床上,莎拉怒不可遏,将本赶出家门。本在酒精的折磨下奄奄一息,他打电话给莎拉,能否让生命和感情重生。
George Peppard plays a hard-driven industrialist more than a little reminiscent of Howard Hughes. While he builds airplanes, directs movies and breaks hearts, his friends and lovers try to reach his human side, and find that it's an uphill battle. The film's title is a metaphor for self-promoting tycoons who perform quick financial takeovers, impose dictatorial controls for short-term profits, then move on to greener pastures. The Carpetbaggers is the kind of trashy classic most people were too embarrassed to admit they enjoyed back in the early 60s. But this Harold Robbins adaptation is so cheerfully vulgar, it's hard not to have a good time - especially given the thinly veiled portrait of Howard Hughes at its center. George Peppard plays the heel-hero, who founds an airline company in the 1920s and buys a movie studio in the 1930s, crushing friends and mistresses along the way. The high cheese factor is aided by the good-time cast Carroll Baker as Peppard's hot stepmom, Bob Cummings (quite funny) as a cynical agent, and Elizabeth Ashley, who married Peppard, in her debut -uncharacteristically, as a good girl. One sad note is Alan Ladd, looking and sounding very end-of-the-line in his final role, as a man's man cowboy star. Elmer Bernstein's swaggering score helps goose the action along.