Review: Couples Retreat

Movie: Couples Retreat
Genre: Comedy
Review Category: Available at Rental Retailers


Vaughn?.....Comedy?.....Movie you say?.....Go on. Well I wish I could, unfortunately that seems to be the only thought put into this film. And to be fair it's often a pretty good combination, nothing out of the park or anything but a good film with some funny moments usually arises from nothing more than Vince Vaughn and a camera. Overall the movie was watchable, but seemed to lack in the plot.
Vince Vaughn was Vince Vaughn, witty stumbling sentences that make you chuckle a little. But there was no real WOW factor. Perhaps there was just too much of Vince Vaughn being himself. Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn both had a hand in writting this film, to the film's detriment. There are a few scenes where the back and forth argumentative dialogue especially between Vaughn and Favreau gets...well, confusing and turns what was a mildly funny scene into boredom. At the end of the day, Vince Vaughn is Vince Vaughn and that's what makes him great, he's one of the few actors allowed to ad-lib some lines and go for the "extra funny". But I often think he's edited and reeled back in by good direction, which honestly the moderation makes his out burst something to look forward to and adds to his hilarity. I just didn't get the feeling he was told to tone it down at any time during the filming of this movie. Think of it like chocolate is good. We pretty much can all agree to that, and if you can't you obviously have no pulse and your opinion doesn't matter anyway. Even people deathly allergic to chocolate can't seem to stay away from it. However, if all you ate was chocolate it would lose it's appeal and not be as great tasting as it is. The same can be said of Vince Vaughn's rambling dialogue, it's generally funny, but too much of it just makes the story seem poorly written plus there's only so much the guy can come up with "off the cuff".
I'd really like to know who cast this film? (now I only pose the question to add emphasis, think of it as a rhetorical question) Seriously, with the exception of Faizon Love's character, whose suppose to be dating a twenty year old ( that looks thirty, twenty eight at best), the age difference between most of the couples appears to be at least fifteen years. There just is no good reason these old guys should be married to these young ladies. I mean they aren't rich or overly charming or anything. Simply put it just didn't look right and made it very hard for me to believe the relationships. Which is important to this film since it's titled COUPLES RETREAT. Overall the film is what you'd expect from a romantic comedy, with nothing too impressive to speak of, but since Vince Vaughn can't ever really be all bad, catch it if you enjoy his comedic performances. I rate this film Rent for $1 or less.