“Four Christmases” is far from delivering the best laughs or
the most appropriate holiday spirit. And I’m not talking about peace, love and
prayer. The film directed by Seth Gordon is clichéd and annoying at times, since
it repeats the same old gags over and over again, as if it was striving to
convince its viewers of their humor. While this is a major problem, “Four
Christmases” includes several other even more disturbing minuses. It’s four
times worse than the average take-a-deep-breath-and-meet-the-folks movie,
although it benefits from a great cast. You may be wondering how the disaster
is possible taking into account that Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn are the
stars of the comedy.
Well, here’s the answer: in spite of the fact that the two
may be marvelous individually, they don’t work as a couple (at least as a big
screen pair). The size issue you may be thinking about is a disadvantage,
obviously, but the actors have no chemistry together. In addition, they reveal
incompatible personalities and ways of showing them. While Vince Vaughn wanders
around with a big grin stuck on his face, Reese Witherspoon acts like a fish
out of water.
The holiday jokes are overcooked as well, as they only vary
from crazy family, badly chosen comments, silly garlands that punish the
loud-mouthed and loathsome kids to itchy present exchanges.
Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon impersonate Brad and
Kate, respectively, who form a happy but unmarried couple. Although they share
a San Francisco
home, they haven’t met each other’s folks yet. They enjoy good action and thus
role play in bars (and offer the film an entertainingly wayward opening scene)
and escape family Christmas parties every year by telling relatives that they
are busy doing charity work.
“You can’t spell ‘families’ without ‘lies,’” Brad says at a
certain point in the movie, in what may prove to be the pic’s best line.
Therefore, they fool their folks again this Christmas, but
their plans are ruined when their flight to Fiji is cancelled and a television
reporter asks them for an interview.
Since fate makes their parents tune in for the news report
that features their appearances, the next thing they know is that they have to
attend the family gatherings.
Unable to make up any more excuses, Brad and Kate have to
visit her mom (Mary Steenburgen), her dad (Jon Voight), his mom (Sissy Spacek)
and his dad (Robert Duvall ) - both pairs of parents are divorced.
A 4-in-1 Christmas brings the couple nothing but trouble,
especially when Kate realizes that they are not right for each other. As for
the viewers, they will check their watches every five minutes, despite the fact
that the film lasts for less than one hour and a half.
One disastrous family meeting may be hard to swallow, but
four of them are impossible to gulp down.
