Movie Review: Four Christmases

Even though an A-list cast is on hand throughout this 88 minute movie the sparks fail to fly off the screen in this late season entry.

Lovebirds Kate and Brad are the quintessential yuppy couple. Fun for them is to miss spending time over the holidays with loved ones. Instead the pair opt to forsake all the spirit of giving instead opting to fly away to warmer climes. Sooner or later the truth catches up to everyone and when a trip gets cancelled in no short order the anti-clan couple descend on their respective parents homes. Naturally, by this time the adults have been separated for years hence the necessity to “drop in” on four new homes.

Sparks should fly when these fish out of water interlopers try to make nice with their families. All that can go wrong does go wrong as we are treated to a series of supposedly comic moments where the insults fly fast and furious. Each of the main actors and supporting cast are great performers in their own right but together they are beholden to a lackluster script. And when the film gets serious things further descend downward.

Both Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers) and Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) look good and do make a nice looking couple but their relatives are dreadful over the top caricatures that are at times grating and too self-serving. Former Godfather great Robert Duvall gets relegated to blue humour mode while feisty Mary Steenburgen (Step Brothers) seems destined to worship.