Ruud Review: Four Christmases

I Can Barely Handle One Christmas, Let Alone Four Christmases...

I love Vince Vaughn. Fell in love with him the first time I saw Swingers. Fell even more in love with him the second, third, and fourth times I saw Swingers. Fell a little out of love with him when I saw him in the Psycho remake, but fell right back in love with him in Old School. And while Four Christmases may not be next to Elf, Home Alone or A Christmas Story on my "Much Watch Daily During the Holiday Season" shelf, it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen.

Brad and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) have what seems like the perfect life - they are in love, carefree, and getting ready for a nice holiday vacation. But when their flight to Fuji gets canceled, they will need to face the hardest challenge in their relationship - instead of couples massages and scuba diving, they will have to visit all four of their parents on Christmas day. What comes next you think would be a series of family mishaps, awkward situations, sarcastic remarks, slap stick humor and tons of Vaughn's on the spot ad libing. And it was all there - but there was something missing. Visiting four families during an hour and a half comedy doesn’t leave much time for a full relationship to develop – between main and supporting characters or between the audience and supporting characters. Though each quirky family serving was just right – there wasn’t enough time to get tired of each family’s quirkiness. All I’m saying is that it would have been nice to form some ties to the supporting cast. Especially when said cast is as stellar as this one: Jon Favreau and Tim McGraw as Brad’s brothers reminded me of the Bushwhack Twins from the WWF (before it was the WWE). And it’s always a treat to see Dwight Yoakam (remember his cameo in Wedding Crashers?) as Pastor Phil – Kate’s Mom’s boyfriend. The peppy Kristin Chenoweth, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and Mary Steenburgen (who added a nice “cougar” feel to the film as Kate’s mother) all play various family members.

Witherspoon and Vaughn played their parts well. Vaughn seemed a bit diluted and possibly held back by the lack of improvisation by Witherspoon, though I am not sure who else could have played the role of Kate – cute, but sassy. And perhaps this is Vaughn’s way of maturing out of the frat boy roles and into more adult roles – although I hope not. But if that is the case, I will still follow, because let’s face it, Vaughn is still money, baby.

Next Review: Australia