Review of Couples Retreat (2009) by Glen B — 29 Oct 2010

Couples Retreat is yet another example of how you can have a large all-star cast but it gets squandered by a script that doesn't even seem present to the actors. I like nearly all of the actors in this film but they're all simply wasted because they seem like they're not given anything to their full potential.

So you've got four couples: The Stuck in a Hole (Vince Vaughn/Malin Akerman),The Cheaters (Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis),The Overthinkers (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell),and The Rebounders (Faizon Love and Kali Hawk) who are all either struggling in handling a good relationship or are on the brink of getting a divorce. One day,"The Overthinkers" say they're going to get a divorce because they're unable to conceive a child,so they announce that they're going to a tropical couples retreat. But they can't afford to go there alone so they find a group rate so they can all go. However when they arrive on the island,they find out that couples exercises are mandatory during their stay. Suprise,Surprise! (sigh).

Out of the entire cast,nobody really stood out. Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau had their moments but they never do enough to keep me into laughing consistently throughout the film. Jason Bateman acted like all of the other characters he plays but he isn't really given enough to do and that's a real waste of him because he's good in just about everything he stars in. The supporting cast of wives was impressive but they literally act as stand-ins to the guys because they never have anything remotely funny or interesting to do. Jean Reno really phones in his performance as the head of the retreat and Ken Jeong along with John Michael Higgins are really underused because they both have done films that are way funnier than this heap of crap.

This film is the directorial debut of Peter Billingsley,aka Ralphie from A Christmas Story,and he really doesn't bring anything new to this genre. I wonder if he even thought along with the cast and crew on what they were shooting: either it's a movie or a vacation video to be used Access Hollywood. It's written by Vince Vaughn,Jon Favreau,and Dana Fox,and this feels like they just bullet-pointed a bunch plot ideas together and had all the actors come up with the dialogue on their own. The humor of this film is very hard to explain as it has sequences that go on for WAY TOO LONG,especially the yoga scene and a scene involving Guitar Hero. It's very broad and after awhile,the film just gets very tedious and annoying.

Couples Retreat could have been comedy gold if it was given and R-rating and a script polish or two. Instead,it's a bland,formulaic comedy that has only a few bright spots here and there. I think that we can all agree that the place where this film was shot was why all of these talented actors got togehter to make this stupid film. If I were to give a special mention to anyone,though,it would be that A.R. Rahman's score was a good follow-up to his work on Slumdog Millionaire. Otherwise,that's just about it.

Deadpool-O-Meter: 20-25%.