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Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau team up after their '90s career-making hit, Swingers, to write and costar in Couples Retreat, a romantic comedy that's heavy on the satire, but is also knowing and wry, as Swingers is at its best. Vaughn and Favreau are joined in the top-notch cast by the always engaging Kristin Bell (whose appearance with Vaughn, in a romantic tropical setting, may remind viewers of Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis (Sex and the City), Faizon Love, and Jean Reno. Fans of romantic comedies, and comedies of manners, will be delighted at the snappy interaction among the actors, and the zingers delivered by the script.
"You are not buying some 20-year-old broad a motorcycle!" yells Vaughn's character, Dave, to Love's character, Shane, who's having an early midlife crisis. "She's a kid! Buy her a Hello Kitty book!" Turns out that all the couples in Dave and Shane's circle are having issues, and decide to take a group tropical vacation. Ah, but there's a catch: the island getaway comes with mandatory couples counseling and bonding events. Most of the film's laughs come from cringe-worthy fish-out-of-water moments, though there are some pretty great fish-in-water moments, too: Dave begins to panic during a test involving swimming with sharks. "It's time to get the gun, and shoot some fish!"
Reno is also a standout, as the unctuous New Age-y director of the retreat, fearless in spewing half-nonsense yet having the almost admirable courage to stand behind his convictions. The film was directed with a light hand by Peter Billingsley, who starred as young Ralphie in A Christmas Story, and who has acted with Vaughn in Four Christmases and The Break-Up. And somehow, among the lunacy and the beauty of nature, friends and soulmates may just find the way back to each other. Just steer clear of the Jet Skis. --A.T. Hurley
"You are not buying some 20-year-old broad a motorcycle!" yells Vaughn's character, Dave, to Love's character, Shane, who's having an early midlife crisis. "She's a kid! Buy her a Hello Kitty book!" Turns out that all the couples in Dave and Shane's circle are having issues, and decide to take a group tropical vacation. Ah, but there's a catch: the island getaway comes with mandatory couples counseling and bonding events. Most of the film's laughs come from cringe-worthy fish-out-of-water moments, though there are some pretty great fish-in-water moments, too: Dave begins to panic during a test involving swimming with sharks. "It's time to get the gun, and shoot some fish!"
Reno is also a standout, as the unctuous New Age-y director of the retreat, fearless in spewing half-nonsense yet having the almost admirable courage to stand behind his convictions. The film was directed with a light hand by Peter Billingsley, who starred as young Ralphie in A Christmas Story, and who has acted with Vaughn in Four Christmases and The Break-Up. And somehow, among the lunacy and the beauty of nature, friends and soulmates may just find the way back to each other. Just steer clear of the Jet Skis. --A.T. Hurley
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit of a downer,
By
This review is from: Couples Retreat (DVD)
I salivated a bit when I saw that the creative team of Vaughn, Favreau and Billingsley had cooked up another comedy. I was expecting another Swingers or Made. Instead I got a romantic comedy type film that wasn't really all that funny.The cast is normally awesome, and although Jason Bateman is usually great, his character here is just so annoying. Kristen Bell, as his wife, was equally annoying. Malin Ackerman (Watchmen) was good as Vince's wife, but Kristin Davis (Sex & the City) didn't really do much of anything. Faizon Love (Made) was funny. Jean Reno (The Professional) was totally wasted as a stereotypical French new age guru. The concept here is that Bateman and Bell found that their marriage was coming to an end and decided to sign up for a couple's retreat to fix their marriage. The only catch is that they can't afford it unless they do it as a group rate, so everybody is along for the ride. Even Faizon Love is coming, who's already split from his wife and is bringing his new girlfriend, the 20 year old Trudy, instead. They are promised good times, lots of jet skis and drinking. I'm sure you know what happens next. Turns out that they have to participate in compulsory couples counselling. No jetskis, no drinks, no fun. I guess when you watch a movie with 8 people having no fun, the viewer in turn has no fun. There were some highlights here, I enjoyed seeing Vince Vaughn getting circled by sharks, and John Michael Higgins was really funny and annoying as a counsellor. Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead) is deadpan dry as Sctanley, the guy who runs the retreat. Blink and you might miss Temuera Morrison (Attack of the Clones) as Jean Reno's sidekick. You may also notice Ken Jeong (The Hangover) as a counsellor. However, the movie is predictable, a bit dry, and not something you'd watch to feel good. The final highlight for me was a Guitar Hero dual between Vaughn and Serafinowicz, but even that felt like I'd already seen it before (Paul Blart: Mall Cop anyone?). I haven't even watched the DVD bonus features. Sorry about that. 3 stars, which I feel is generous.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
(2.5 stars) "It had potential...",
By
This review is from: Couples Retreat (DVD)
Earning over 160 millions in theaters Couples retreat looks seems like a good idea on paper and even a potentially great comedy however, the resulting film is not as good as maybe it could have been. Vince Vaughn co-wrote the script and I feel that it was much better than the film turned out to be. Despite a talented cast of actors the movie is not as fun to watch as it should really be and leaves much to be desired. I got a few laughs out of Vaughn and Jon Favreau especially and liked Kristen Bell's acting as always but it seems that even those actors couldn't make anything great out of the script. I thought I'd ignore the negative reviews given to this movie give it a chance and enjoy it for what it was.Jason and Cynthia invite other couples to their house to give them a presentation on Eden Island to interest them in a vacation. They announce that things aren't going so well with their own couple and are considering divorce; this will be a therapeutically vacation to them and is a chance for them to turn things around. While Jason and Cynthia work on their relationship and go in couple therapy the other couples are free to enjoy the Island's fun activities. After much arguing the couples all agree to go. When they arrive on Eden they are disappointed to learn that they all have to go through couple therapy which is not what they expected. The idea of sending four couples on an Island vacation mixed up with a few troubles here and there seemed like a somewhat enjoyable movie. Some moments were moderately funny and others came out to be not funny at all, I think some things supposed to make the audience laugh didn't work as thought out. I felt some parts of the movie dragged on and contributed to the movie receiving negative reviews. It's not a horrible movie neither is it excellent, it's a little had to define and ranks somewhere between the two. It does have its fun parts that's for sure and some enjoyable moments but as far as this comedy go it's not really worth more than a rental. You could do a lot worse than rent this movie on a boring night but you could also do much better as well. I checked it out despite some negative reviews because I thought the cast was good and the story seemed good, I was curious about it. It's not all bad, it's certainly entertaining but I expected a little better to be honest. 2 and half stars for this one.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Watch it with your partner,
By
This review is from: Couples Retreat (DVD)
It wasn't the best comedy I have seen. Unfortunately my partner was more interested in the leaf's playing the night I watched it, Would have been more fun with him.
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