Emphasis on Retreat. As in retreat from this movie as fast as you can...
Couples Retreat
starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Kali Hawk, Pete Serafinowicz, Jean Reno, John Michael Higgins, Ken Jeong
directed by Peter Billingsley
When I see Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn are going to star in another movie together, I really want to love it. Further more, when I find out that the two wrote the film together, I get that much more excited. Vaughn is a funny guy (or at least he used to be) and Favreau has some serious writing chops. But reluctantly, I finally see the preview for Couples Retreat and I’m left a bit confused. Really? Another cookie-cutter romance comedy? And the more I saw the way, way over played trailer, the more I began to dread seeing this film. My only hope was for a good script from a pair of genuinely funny guys.
Couples Retreat revolves around four sets of couples with vastly different personalities and life styles; Dave (Vaughn) and Ronnie (Akerman) are the anchors of the group. Their lives revolve around their two kids and Dave’s video game career, and they are constantly moving at a hundred miles an hour. Joey (Favreau) and Lucy (Davis) have been married ever since they got knocked up on prom night eighteen years ago. They share little to no affection for each other. Shane (Love) is recently divorced and is attempting to court a young and out of his league girl named Trudy (Hawk). Jason (Bateman) and Cynthia (Bell) live life by PowerPoint presentations and near anal schedules. The problem is, Jason and Cynthia are sadly considering a divorce. Before making the big decision, though, they want to attend a couples counseling retreat at Eden Resort run by world famous Mr. Marcel (Reno). And guess what? They found a terrific group rate. The other couples get talked into going only to be ran through the gauntlet in the most intense and unforgiving couples counseling they could ever imagine.
The script had a pair of wonderful writers going for it, but sadly, it fell flat. And that is not an understatement. Introductions to characters are cut short as possible so that we can get out to paradise island as fast as possible. From there, its like every bad date comedy you’ve ever seen. We have the over used Vince Vaughn rant session. We have the odd and quirky leader in Jean Reno. We have the typical temptation of younger and more vivacious women. There’s even a couple of dick jokes. Couples Retreat doesn’t even attempt anything original or smart. It is unabashedly a lame attempt at a few laughs in the form of a comedy outline the audience has seen more than a dozen times. Nothing new.
It really only has two things going for it. The first is Faizon Love. He doesn’t do movies nearly as often as he should, and he is a delight. Almost everyone of his lines is a punchline, and its great to see a black guy that doesn’t actually have a typical stereotype of ‘the black guy’ in a film. With him being the only one in the movie, there was a slim chance his part would be written that way. But it wasn’t, and he was great. Plus, I’ve never really been a huge fan of Malin Akerman. My opinion of her is simply that she cannot act. She’s just a pretty face and body to put into a film for eye candy. I am, however, happy to be proven wrong every once in a while. She had perhaps the best performance of the cast, and proved that there is a reason she chose acting for a career. There were some good funny moments here and there, but I wish I had more to praise, reader. It just didn’t do it for me at all.
Vince Vaughn is not the comedy leading man he used to be. Or, maybe he is, its just that the character that he always plays is just getting one dimensional and old. I didn’t find anything he did in the film funny. Plus, the humor was more odd than it was laughable, and I left the theater wondering just what it was that the director and writers wanted to get out of Couples Retreat. If they wanted to sprinkle mediocre laughs inbetween diatribes about marriage and making it work, they succeeded. But did they succeed something worth celebrating? No.
Seems to me a better reason for the creators to make the film was to get a free, paid for trip to an island getaway. Because that is the sole reason this big waste of time would have attracted me to work on it. I know this was the only big release out this weekend, but don’t waste your time. There’s been worse, sure, but Vaughn and Favreau can do better. Much better.
(Sigh) Couples Retreat
Emphasis on Retreat. As in retreat from this movie as fast as you can...
Couples Retreat
starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Kali Hawk, Pete Serafinowicz, Jean Reno, John Michael Higgins, Ken Jeong
directed by Peter Billingsley
When I see Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn are going to star in another movie together, I really want to love it. Further more, when I find out that the two wrote the film together, I get that much more excited. Vaughn is a funny guy (or at least he used to be) and Favreau has some serious writing chops. But reluctantly, I finally see the preview for Couples Retreat and I’m left a bit confused. Really? Another cookie-cutter romance comedy? And the more I saw the way, way over played trailer, the more I began to dread seeing this film. My only hope was for a good script from a pair of genuinely funny guys.
Couples Retreat revolves around four sets of couples with vastly different personalities and life styles; Dave (Vaughn) and Ronnie (Akerman) are the anchors of the group. Their lives revolve around their two kids and Dave’s video game career, and they are constantly moving at a hundred miles an hour. Joey (Favreau) and Lucy (Davis) have been married ever since they got knocked up on prom night eighteen years ago. They share little to no affection for each other. Shane (Love) is recently divorced and is attempting to court a young and out of his league girl named Trudy (Hawk). Jason (Bateman) and Cynthia (Bell) live life by PowerPoint presentations and near anal schedules. The problem is, Jason and Cynthia are sadly considering a divorce. Before making the big decision, though, they want to attend a couples counseling retreat at Eden Resort run by world famous Mr. Marcel (Reno). And guess what? They found a terrific group rate. The other couples get talked into going only to be ran through the gauntlet in the most intense and unforgiving couples counseling they could ever imagine.
The script had a pair of wonderful writers going for it, but sadly, it fell flat. And that is not an understatement. Introductions to characters are cut short as possible so that we can get out to paradise island as fast as possible. From there, its like every bad date comedy you’ve ever seen. We have the over used Vince Vaughn rant session. We have the odd and quirky leader in Jean Reno. We have the typical temptation of younger and more vivacious women. There’s even a couple of dick jokes. Couples Retreat doesn’t even attempt anything original or smart. It is unabashedly a lame attempt at a few laughs in the form of a comedy outline the audience has seen more than a dozen times. Nothing new.
It really only has two things going for it. The first is Faizon Love. He doesn’t do movies nearly as often as he should, and he is a delight. Almost everyone of his lines is a punchline, and its great to see a black guy that doesn’t actually have a typical stereotype of ‘the black guy’ in a film. With him being the only one in the movie, there was a slim chance his part would be written that way. But it wasn’t, and he was great. Plus, I’ve never really been a huge fan of Malin Akerman. My opinion of her is simply that she cannot act. She’s just a pretty face and body to put into a film for eye candy. I am, however, happy to be proven wrong every once in a while. She had perhaps the best performance of the cast, and proved that there is a reason she chose acting for a career. There were some good funny moments here and there, but I wish I had more to praise, reader. It just didn’t do it for me at all.
Vince Vaughn is not the comedy leading man he used to be. Or, maybe he is, its just that the character that he always plays is just getting one dimensional and old. I didn’t find anything he did in the film funny. Plus, the humor was more odd than it was laughable, and I left the theater wondering just what it was that the director and writers wanted to get out of Couples Retreat. If they wanted to sprinkle mediocre laughs inbetween diatribes about marriage and making it work, they succeeded. But did they succeed something worth celebrating? No.
Seems to me a better reason for the creators to make the film was to get a free, paid for trip to an island getaway. Because that is the sole reason this big waste of time would have attracted me to work on it. I know this was the only big release out this weekend, but don’t waste your time. There’s been worse, sure, but Vaughn and Favreau can do better. Much better.