Four Christmases (2008)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This happened to be on Film 4 last night. And since there was nothing to look at on TV I decided to give this movie a go since I have never seen it before. The film is about an unmarried couple named Brad and Kate(played by Just Like Heaven's Reese Witherspoon and Dodgeball's Vince Vaughan)and they met at a night's out during the Christmas period. Of course they dream to go to Fiji together but since there was a fog,all the destinations were cancelled including Fiji so the couple decide to celebrate Xmas with their extended families by trying to go to both set of parents(as both of their parents are divorced) So will they go to Fiji and can they stick both set of their parents during the Xmas season?Now I just watched this like I said last night because I am a fan of both Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughan I liked Vince in Dodgeball I thought that was hilarious and Reese in Walk The Line,but they seemed very aloof on screen,I can't put my finger on it but they were very distant and cold with each other it just didn't work at all. Granted if the actors were getting along it would have been better but that was the major problem with this movie. The backgrounds were nice in fairness but the movie as a whole was just a so so movie.Average

Directed by Seth Gordon, "Four Christmases" stars Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a couple who visit the homes of four relatives during the Christmas holidays. As these relatives as "quirky", much hilarity ensues.When it's attempting to be "dramatic", "touching" and "sweet", "Four Christmases" is mostly inept. When it's attempting to put forth a message – our lead characters teach us the importance of marriage and procreation - the film is even worse. Elevating things slightly are some funny moments by actor Vince Vaughn, whose improvisations and dead-pan ramblings help breakup Gordon's formulaic script. Jon Favreau steals the show as Vaughn's bizarre sibling.5/10 – Worth one viewing.

Four Christmases is funny, but a certain number of flaws make it less appealing to me.First off, Vince Vaughn uses some of the same tricks he did in Wedding Crashers (to be reviewed), but at least he's toned down a bit. For the most part, though, the acting is good, if purposefully over caricatured, even Vince. Reese is obviously leading the pack. Robert Duval is not far behind: you just love to hate his character.Second, the scenario gives us two characters with out of the box ideas at the start, but we loose them by the end. Well, not completely, however, it's enough to put a damper on my appreciation.Lastly, there are some illogical sequences of event in the story, especially at the start.Despite all that, it's still funny, and the premises are quite original. If they could only have continue in the same vein, the final product would have been great.If you wanna a see a positive Christmas story with an interesting setup that requires very little thinking, I think you should go for it.

Four Christmases is the case where the inherent jolliness of its cast may disguise the film's lack of sense, consistency, humor, tone, and purpose. Similar things can be said about a number of romantic comedies nowadays such as Friends With Benefits and No Strings Attached, and on an unromantic note, Bad Teacher. Out of that lot, this one is probably the least impressive; it's too bad it can't assemble a great line of jokes and character situations as it can a heartwarming cast.Our story lies with Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon), a happily unmarried couple with divorced parents they never see to avoid contention. For recent years during the holidays, they've vacated their hometown of San Francisco in favor of luxurious paradises instead of staying in the state of California, where they could be bothered by their parents. This year, their vacation to Fiji is cancelled because of an abrupt storm that grounds all flights in and out of the state, and because Brad and Kate were featured on a news report due to the massive cancellation, they must go visit all four of their parents in one day.Keep in mind, being the unmarried people they are, they've never met each others' parents and for good reasons. We find out that Brad's brothers (Jon Favreau and Tim McGraw) are a bunch of narcissistic neanderthals and his father (Robert Duvall) does little to better them, while his mother (Sissy Spacek) is a sweetheart, but so consumed and needy ever since being a brand new relationship. Kate's mom (Mary Steenburgen) is easily smitten, being so taken with Brad's attractiveness, and her father (Jon Voight), in the little time we see him, seems to be a standup father. There's little minor problems in each one of these visits (or vignettes, whatever) but few of them are maximized into central issues.The only one I can see is that Brad and Kate learn that they don't know a whole lot about each other after playing Brad's mother's cockamamie "Newlywed" style game that is supposed to test how much you know about your partner. Brad sees that his knowledge on Kate is unusually thin after three years of being together, and Kate realizes that her biggest fear, having kids, may not be such a crippling thing after all, since she gets much experience with children on this trip.Certain instances are cute and generate laughs; take for example the scene in the church, where Brad and Kate are volunteered to play Joseph and Mary, respectively, in a scene replicating the birth of the baby Jesus alongside Dwight Yoakam's energetic pastor. The scene is lively and good-natured, but these seldom scenes that generate a smirk or a small chuckle come sandwiched between mediocre material that serves as story-filler for much of the picture.I'll give Four Christmases credit for a couple things, however. It assembles a talented cast that, for once, handle a romantic comedy in ways that do not seem like a "phoned in" job, and the fact that the film is concise and time-managed, not sticking around for another thirty minutes like the ending could've allowed it to. But if there's any reason to endure this eighty minutes of genial filmmaking, it's to see a pleasantly effervescent and charming Reese Witherspoon efficiently handle her material. Her and Vaughn (who has unfortunately been victim to rather mundane material with this and Couples Retreat recently) strike up a solid, likable chemistry that can sustain the film for the most part, even with corny lines and a rather tired line of jokes.On a final blessing, Four Christmases doesn't center around shallow Christmas materialism. Unfortunately, its message is hazily concocted showing a couple seemingly reconnect with each other in a meaningful way, while at the same time attempting to avoid their family during the year's most wonderful time. But I've gone too far in analyzing this picture. From mentioning Dwight Yoakam's pastor to trying to extract a theme I must say, "mistletoe!" Starring: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Favreau, Tim McGraw, Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen, and Dwight Yoakam. Directed by: Seth Gordon.