Vaughn and Witherspoon (or Orlando and Cootie Kate) take on Christmas
Written: Dec 15 '08 (Updated Dec 15 '08)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Some funny moments, Reese and Vince.
Cons: It seems like I've seen it all done before. Very cliched characters.
The Bottom Line: It seems that lately, if you've seen one Christmas comedy, you've seen them all. Four Christmases is no exception. Even Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn couldn't keep this one fresh.
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| CJsMommy's Full Review: Four Christmases |
It's inevitable that every Christmas season brings with it a slew of new "Holiday" movies. With the good (Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas) always comes the bad. And, it's inevitable that good actors will sometimes do bad movies. Or several bad movies. The funny thing about this movie, although not the worst I've seen lately, is that there are a lot of good actors in it. But, as other movies have taught us, a lot of good actors a good movie does not make. I ended up seeing Four Christmases this weekend on a "Girls Night Out." We were going to see Australia until we realized how long it was. Four Christmases was much shorter, so it won the vote. I will have to say, we did laugh a lot, but I saw a lot of us glancing at each other to make sure we were not the only ones laughing.
Brad and Kate (Vaughn and Witherspoon) have been dating for years. They aren't married, have no interest in it, and do everything in their power to avoid Christmas with their families. One season they may be weaving baskets with the people of Africa. This season is innoculations in a third world country. Their true goal is a trip to Fiji for scuba diving and massage sessions. The only problem is their flight is cancelled due to fog and they end up on the news - which, of course, their entire family ends up seeing. Now, Brad and Kate must find a way to visit four different houses in one day.
The majority of the movie is spent going from house to house (Brad's dad, then Kate's mom, then Brad's mom, then Kate's dad). As they meet each other's family for the first time, they learn many things about each other that the year's together had never revealed. For example, Brad's real name is Orlando (all the boys in his family were named for where they were conceived) and Kate was "slightly" overweight in her younger years.
They seem to spend the most time at Brad's dad, and a lot of the usual type things happen that you see in these types of movies. You may get the feeling that you've seen it before. As a matter of fact, I got a deja vu feeling when I saw the wife of one of Brad's brother's holding her baby. I wanted to say "You've got a baby, in a bar." (No they weren't in a bar, but if you've seen both movies, you'll know what I'm talking about.) Way too Sweet Home Alabama for me. If you've seen Christmas Vacation, similar antics happen in this movie. Christmas trees fall, people fall off roofs....you get the picture. I will say, also, that if you've seen the previews, you've seen a good majority of the "funny" parts. There's not much else.
As far as the acting, it's decent, but not great. Vince Vaughn plays the same character he plays in most of his other movies. I got great flashbacks of Old School (do you see a theme here?). Reese is very Reese-like as well. In the beginning of the movie, the couple apparently mixes it up to keep their relationship fresh, but I don't see much of that in the movie. There isn't much touching beyond the first few scenes - the chemistry is just not there. There is a lot of quiet time in the car, though! The rest of the family seems to be very characterized. What I mean is that they don't stray beyond what your initial impression of them is. For example, the initial impression of Brad's father and his brothers is that they are fairly red-neck. They don't stray from that impression at all.
There are some laugh out loud moments, and I enjoyed going to see the movie with a group of friends. If I had gone with my fiance, I'm not sure it would have been as fun. The funniest moment seemed to be the very last part of the movie. For the amount of money a movie costs, nowadays, I would definitely wait until it comes to your local Blockbuster. Or maybe Pay Per View. Or maybe HBO. Definitely not Reese and Vince's most shining moments.
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
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Member: Jennifer Boyle
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
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