In theaters. Rated PG-13, 107 minutes. Trailer.
No one is more fun to watch than Vince Vaughn. As Doc so eloquently put it, his motormouth is a national treasure - when his acting combines with great writing, it is magic. Trouble is, the Vince written, produced and starring Couples Retreat is too lazy to be good. The film feels like a super-extended version of the 'couples night' scene in The Breakup, and that works a lot of the time, but not enough to save the film. Click below for more COUPLES:
The film tracks 4 couples as they head to a island/marriage therapy destination. The first quarter of the film shows them in their natural element, and this portion of the film works well with Vaughn as the typical dad/husband and Bateman reprising his normal neurotic character. Bateman's marriage to Kristen Bell's character is on the rocks, and they found the island location and can get a great deal if all 4 couples go.
The rest of the film is set in Bora Bora, and shows the couples as they move through the couples skillbuilding (including funny therapy sessions with Ken Jeong and John Michael Higgins) and the ensuing arguments and uncomfortable situations. There are several funny sequences here, but they had been WORN OUT already by the trailers, so a big chunk of them were already stale. The film ends with outlandish plot points and decent resolutions for the 4 couples.
The big weakness of the film was the obviousness of a lot of the jokes like the speedo clad and inappropriate touching yoga instructor. Those scenes were kind of funny, but not really because it was so dumb and uninteresting. Same goes for the scenes with Jean Reno and most of the 'crazy' island folks. It is surprising to me that the writers (Favreau, Vaughn and another guy) couldn't work the fish out of water angle better.
The Vince Vaughn/Malin Akerman couple is the best, most realized couple, and their life and relationship were enjoyable to watch for this parent/husband. There issues are real and their interactions and resolutions works the best. The biggest weakness of the film was the black couple - the guy is funny, but their relationship dynamics aren't interesting and he doesn't fit in - replace him with Paul Rudd or a Wilson brother or even Ron Livingston and this movie probably gets saved.
If you don't love Vaughn, this is a C+. Still a good time at the movies. It will finish #1 - the 9:30pm showing was sold out in Plano, and the Stonebriar 9:50pm showing was nearly sold out.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Couples Retreat - B-
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5 comments:
With 98% approval of Anvil and 13% approval of Couples Retreat by critics on Rottentomatoes, it wouldn't surprise me if someone accuses the site of being too mainstream. But after a tough week, I'd rather hang out with Vince than a couple of metalhead idiots. Anvil (and Sunshine Cleaning) must have looked pretty good in a sea of Sundance crap last January.
Looking forward to Couples Retreat on DVD (of course). A Serious Man and Where the Wild Things Are are the only 2 films that will get me to theater this month.
There is also a great sequence wherein vv rips twitter, tribal tattoos and all manner of youth trash culture - a great (and rare) rebuke of idiocy. I rewatched the favreau written/directed Made last night. Its a B. Vv's character is written as basically Trent from Swingers in the real world - not a pretty picture. Interesting though and vv's mistreatment of a young sam rockwell is worth the price of admission.
Favreau said he wrote Vince's character in Made to be a little opposite of Trent in Swingers. In Swingers, Vince has all the answers; in Made he has none. I rewatched Made in the past year or so and agree with the B. Too many head fakes toward the end and P-Diddy gives a distracting performance. Vince is great though and I love him yelling at Chucky Cheese. I must have skipped over the Rockwell scene.
Worth mentioning that Vince was absolutely perfect in Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
His perfection in Mr. and Mrs. Smith still can't wipe away the stain of his performance in Be Cool, one of the worst movies of the last 10 years.
Its the scene when he's yelling at him to leave the room and keeps throwing his drink on him and apologizing.
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