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FOUR CHRISTMASES
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Jon Voight, Sissy Spacek
Directed by: Seth Gordon
Rated PG-13 for some sexual humor and language
By John Delia
Vince Vaughn does his best to save Four Christmases from doom, but the nervous little comedy is too over the top to come out a winner. Trouble in the film includes overacting, a too predictable plot and a lot of overused comical banter. The film may have been a lot better had they used lesser known actors. If you like Vaughn so much that you have to have more of his glib humor, then Four Christmases will be your mistletoe of delight.
Brad (Vaughn) and Kate (Witherspoon) are an unmarried couple that has been avoiding spending the holiday with their dysfunctional divorced parents and going on a vacation instead every year. This year has not been any different, except when they get to the airport, they find out that there flight to Figi has been cancelled for at least a day. To top it off, a news crew spots the disappointed couple and they become the number one TV news item. With their plans revealed they decide to visit each of the four families in reckoning for their ill-fated plan. When they do, however, a lot more gets revealed about their lives then they want told.
The film has many problems, some of which could have been avoided with more directorial control. In addition, Four Christmases is void of imagination and so predictable that it becomes more of a stand up for Vaughn than a platform to show his genius. Some of the blame for the not so original script has to be placed on rookie feature film director Gordon who seems to let his high profile cast get away from him and take over the production.
Vaughn plays himself, the glib comic that doesn’t see his own faults except when they are pointed out to him. He seems to go off on tangents at times and Gordon allows Vaughn to dominate. Miscast Witherspoon seems to be trying to just keep up with Vaughn as he overshadows her overly abiding character. The topper comes with Favreau putting wrestling holds on his brother (Vaughn’s character) time an again until it isn’t funny anymore.
The film is not devoid of humor however, and contains some very funny scenes, including one with Witherspoon getting cornered by kids in a bounce house following a pregnancy test and another when she handles a puking child. Vaughn’s funniest involves him attending a church and volunteering to be Joseph in a Nativity play.
The film contains some sexual humor and language so be cautioned when deciding to bring youngsters.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Four Christmases gets a little too predictable with not enough original comical situations. (2.5 of 5 stars)