Let’s be frank right from the start: Couples Retreat is the kind of movie you can appreciate and enjoy when you’re sitting in the drive-thru at McDonald’s wondering what one dollar Redbox rental will go nicely with your Double Quarter Pounder, pound of fries and cattle trough-sized soda. It’s not a terrible show and has a few funny bits, but its best digested with no expectations, and also while inebriated with sugar and cholesterol.
The tragedy of Couples Retreat is the cast carries some legitimate comedic weight, the kind of heft that makes me shake my finger and scold them for a half-assed job. I mean, you’ve got Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers), Jason Bateman (Juno) and John Favreau (I Love You, Man), all fan favorites, but all three have kind of run their course and are going the way of Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell. Sure, they’re funny, but we’ve been-there-done-that many, many times and sadly it’s just not as laugh-worthy as it was the first go-around.
In Couples Retreat, Vaughn, Favreau and Bateman play three friends – Dave, Joey and Jason – who, along with another pal, Shane (Faizon Love), get lured into taking a couples “vacation” to an island resort called Eden West. Jason and his wife Cynthia (Kristen Bell) have been unable to conceive a baby and the stress has pushed their marriage to the brink of divorce. The friends, wanting to support Jason and Cynthia, come along, hoping to get some R&R in the process. However, when they get to the island they discover they are signed up for days of couple’s skill building sessions and therapy. And that’s just about where the movie runs out of gas.
My biggest beef is with Vaughn, as his shtick seems the stalest. We don’t have to tolerate too much of Favreau because he’s been behind the director’s lens (Iron Man) lately and when he steps in front of the camera it’s in a supporting role, which he’s extremely adept at doing. Bateman, on the other hand, could face some comic moldiness in the future, as he seems to bring his trademark dead-pan intellectual wit and sarcasm to every movie he’s in and predictability does not spell excitement or laughs as his resume grows larger.
Again, there are bits and pieces of humor scattered throughout the first 40 minutes of Couples Retreat. Our introductions to the characters and their wives (Malin Ackerman and Kristin Davis play Vaughn and Favreau’s spouses) makes for some humorous dialogue about “sexting,” home improvement and the deluge of social media in our lives, as well as other crises middle-aged men and women face (like “ball cancer”). And two scenes at the island are chuckle-worthy, one with a horny Yoga instructor and another where the couples are instructed to stand on the beach in their skivvies. After that, the movie doesn’t know where to go, rushing to wrap tidily and quickly and in the process becomes just another overdone comedic cliché.
11 comments On Couples Retreat Movie Review (C)
See, you should have listened to me and waited until it hit TBS.
Seriously they lost me just looking at the poster, average looking overwieght dudes with hot chicks for wives..gimmie a break..
They all must be millionaires, oh wait its a Vince Vaughn movie..
Overbaked chick flick comedy with raunchy sex jokes in place of good writing? I havent seen it yet but thats my guess.
Not that thats a bad thing..just /yawn.
I’m an overweight middle aged dude with a hot chick for a wife. The dream is alive!
Damn you sir..Damn you..
Nice try, you emaciated bastard.
Ok, I WAS an overweight middle aged dude. Now I’m an emaciated middle aged dude thanks to the power of my mind.
That’s better.
Tony Robbins is that you?!
I actually liked the movie. It had it’s moments where it was slow but the overall message of the movie was good.
Oh and the yoga part was funny as hell!
Agreed. I just thought it flopped after the first half was over. The yoga scene was great, and it was nice to see everyone’s marriage make it through the storm, but the transition from “I want a divorce” to “yay we’re in love” wasn’t too palatable for this sailor.
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