I was justifiably cautious when renting Vince Vaughn's latest comedy. Vaughn became a big league movie star with the success of "Wedding Crashers" in 2005. His follow-up feature, "The Break Up," had a bit darker comedy but still worked and became a financial and modest critical success. After that, Vaughn made two Christmas-themed films, "Fred Claus" and "Four Christmases," which was where his comedy brand began to slide. Both were uninspired, poorly executed films, with unjustified mean-streaks in otherwise family features. But people kept coming despite the slide in quality and Vaughn kept doing what he does. "Couple's Retreat" was similarly poorly reviewed by critics upon release but I went out on a limb and rented it. While it was better than I expected (nothing could be as bad as critics were claiming), it is still not vintage Vaughn.
The storyline of the movie is what actually saves the picture from abject mediocrity; four couples travel to an island resort to work on their marital problems. Dave (Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Ackerman; "Watchmen") are the most grounded couple though their life is so busy they don't have time to pay much attention to each other. Jason (Jason Bateman; "Juno") and Cynthia (Kristin Bell; "Forgetting Sarah Marshall") suggested the trip, since they are having troubles connecting emotionally because of their baby-making problems. Joey (Jon Favreau; "Four Christmases") and Lucy (Kristin Davis; "Sex and the City") have practically given up on their marriage and are on the prowl. Lastly, Shane (Faizon Love; "Elf") is a recent divorcee who brought his young, new girlfriend Trudy, along for the trip. The couple's without the marital problems thought they could skip the counseling parts and simple enjoy the resort. They were wrong.
The movie's humor does illicit chuckles and grins but nothing more. The situational set-ups are often humorous, but the execution never quite gets the punch lines right. The situations appear rife with humor but it just doesn't come across. Vaughn and Favreau wrote the screenplay with the writer of the middle-of-the-road Ashton Kutcher comedy "What Happens in Vegas." If the third writer brought the emotional attachment to the characters and smoothed down Vaughn's normally rough edges, her contributions are the most valuable in the movie. I like most of the characters in the story. One couple's relationship, Jason and Cynthia, suffers from believability issues making it hardest to connect with them. The ending wraps up most of the characters' arcs well but it feels a bit forced for others. Overall, "Couple's Retreat" is worthy of rental as a couple's movie but don't expect comedic fireworks.
Rated PG-13 on appeal for sexual content and language.
