Review of Four Christmases (2008) by Tim R — 21 Jul 2011

Imagine you and your companion making a series of visits to each other's parents and relatives, only to be thrown into a string of embarrassing situations. In addition, this is all in the context of Christmas. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon are Brad and Kate, the victims of such a predicament, which is the premise for the contemptible "Four Christmases.".

Brad and Kate are a couple who live in San Francisco and are perfectly happy together as long as they remain unmarried. They don't want to be bothered with the pressures and responsibilities of marriage. For Christmas, they're planning to take a vacation to Fiji in order to avoid spending the holiday with their divorced parents, all of whom know nothing about Brad and Kate's plans.

A massive amount of fog develops in San Francisco causing every single airline flight to be canceled. To make matters worse, Brad and Kate appear on a live television newscast that is reporting the events taking place. Naturally, their parents are watching the news and at this point, the couple feel they have no choice but to visit all four of their parents, resulting in "Four Christmases," which are mostly odious scenes of Brad and/or Kate being name called, physically attacked, vomited on, or reminded of past experiences that are best forgotten.

This movie has a noticeably mean spirit, which is brought out substantially by the characters. Most of them are very boorish and unlikeable. The cruel, forced humor only magnifies their objectionable qualities. A movie can be funny when the main characters wind up in situations that subject them to more trouble than they deserve. But when the other characters purposely initiate those troubles in a callous way, it's not amusing. It's repellent.

To further illustrate this idea of humor, it helps to compare this movie to the much funnier 1991 comedy, "What About Bob?" In that movie, Bill Murray plays a disturbed, multi-phobic individual named Bob Wiley, receiving therapy from a successful psychiatrist, Dr. Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss. Bob clings to Dr. Marvin so much that he smothers him. Dr. Marvin's wife and two kids grow quite fond of Bob and they practically make him one of the family. All of this slowly drives Dr. Marvin insane and he, like Brad and Kate, winds up in plenty of embarrassing and frustrating situations.

Now, why does the humor in "What About Bob?" work so well? Because the characters are more pleasant and their actions and behaviors are not meant to intentionally shame the poor, innocent victim. What makes it even more comical is how gradually Dr. Marvin loses his mind while Bob and Dr. Marvin's family remain completely unaware of this. Humor of this sort has more of a lighthearted feel and is not so contrived. It doesn't have to rely on cheap, senseless sight gags such as Brad being attacked repeatedly by his brothers or Kate being knocked around by a bunch of bratty kids. In "Four Christmases," it feels as if many of the characters are deliberately attempting to humiliate Brad and Kate.

Vaughn and Witherspoon's characters don't provide any felicity. Between the tiresome family visits, we are bogged down with irritating transitions where Brad and Kate are either reflecting negatively on the events that had just occurred or fussing about the current nature of their relationship. When you think about it, this is all disheartening around Christmas time. Yes, the movie throws in some sweetness, but that only sets the stage for the predictable ending and that's all that needs to be said about that.

The cast contains no less than five actors who have won Oscars at some point in their careers. Big deal. That trivial fact is never obvious from watching them in this movie. They're not given anything memorable to do. Did the filmmakers really think that the mere presence of award-winning actors would be enough to compensate for everything this movie lacks? Who knows?