Couples Retreat (2009)

Rated PG-13 on appeal for sexual content and language

Directed By: Peter Billingsley
Written By: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, Malin Akerman, Jean Reno, Peter Serafinowicz, Ken Jeong

Review:

I am fan of Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman and Jon Favreau.  And I am sure that just about everyone is a fan of Peter Billingsley, they just may not know who he is.  Well if you have seen the unforgettable movie “A Christmas Story” you are definitely a fan.  What made that movie a success was its timeless charm, great narration and wonderful facial expressions from Peter’s character.  This movie is a perfect date movie or a great movie to take a a group of couples to see which is how I saw it this weekend. If you are a fan of these actors, love comedy and want a movie that is perfect mindless fun then Couples Retreat is for you!  There are a lot of flaws in the movie but I will cover those later.  I always believe in focusing on the good and then the bad.

Vince Vaughn has very little range, even his more dramatic roles have had a strong essence of him.  What I think makes him successful as an actor is that I think he is a naturally funny person that is comfortable with quick witty dialogue that is off the cuff.  The same goes for Jon Favreau, the two play well against each other.  It is good to see them together on the screen.  I will always love Swingers but feel that Made was a tremendous movie that does not get the credit it deserves.  Couples Retreat is my third favorite on screen pairing of Vaughn and Favreau.  There are some funny moments between them in this movie, one of my favorites is after the “shark incident”.

Jason Bateman is truly becoming the go to guy for dry humor and is a great addition to this movie.  I totally was able to buy into the idea that his character was the type of person to plan his entire life out and present it via PowerPoint!  The primary plot revolves around the troubled marriage of he and his wife, played by Kristen Bell.  They attempt to get a group of their best friends to go on a trip with them to an all inclusive resort so that they can attend couples therapy because they were able to find a group rate.  The other couples played by Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman, Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis and Faizon Love and Kali Hawk are pressured into going on this trip and told they do not have to participate in the couples therapy portion of the activities.  When they arrive they find out that is not the case and some funny moments ensue and show that each couple has issues that are unresolved.

Jean Reno takes a role in a different direction from my favorite bad ass characters that he has played as the self-help guru on the island.  I personally thought his character was fairly lame and annoying and truly did not add any value to the movie.  I think the casting was a poor choice for that role. The islands butler of sorts, Sctanley,  played by Peter Serafinowicz, is an interesting character that I would have enjoyed seeing more of.  During the beginning of the film there was a slow pace to get the movie going and then again midway through there was some more slow going which detracted from the flow of the film.  I also thought that the original previews showed a lot more character build up and took the film in a different direction completely.  For instance, showing how each couples marriage was more in jeopardy than they realized.  Apparently the MPAA originally gave the film an R rating which was appealed to a PG-13.  I have a feeling that a lot of editing caused this film to take on a slightly different direction.  I wonder what the undoubtedly unrated version on DVD will take.

The Bottom Line:
If you love Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau or Jason Bateman then this movie is for you.  I would recommend getting a group of your friends to go see this with.  This is definitely not something to watch with your parents because this could cause some uncomfortable moments because of the many sexual innuendos.