'Four Christmases' Film Review

Article originally published 11/25/2008 at popculturezoo.com

Welcome to the Christmas movie season, where nobody shall go unpunished. As with every November, a long string of holiday-centric films are now being rolled out, lacking both the creativity and entertainment that one would think should be a requirement during this most festive time of year. Sadly, there is no greater target for quick-buck Hollywood productions than Christmastime, surpassing even the summer blockbuster season as a landing spot for mundane and unimaginative recycled drivel. Don’t get me wrong, the winter months have produced a few silver-screen gems in past years. After all, where would Christmas be without It’s a Wonderful Life? However, for every shining example of the potential that Christmas movies can hold, a disproportionately large amount of cinematic coal gets shoved into the stockings of willful film-goers every year.

Which leads me to Four Christmases.

This story is one of dysfunction and deceit, perfect themes to highlight any Christmas movie. As the film starts, we are quickly introduced to Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon), two people who appear to embody the gold standard of a commitment-free relationship. These two are perfectly happy just to exist in each others company, taking dancing classes together and planning lavish vacations that will put them in a time zone far away from their families during Christmas. Of course, nature has a way of altering travel plans with astounding precision. Thus, Brad and Kate soon find their flight canceled and are forced to spend Christmas day visiting each segment of their broken families. Wacky hijinks ensue… cue laugh track.

This film is not without its share of capable actors, which makes the tedious nature in which every punchline, sight-gag and urine joke (seriously) just that much more frustrating to witness. Vaughn and Witherspoon lack any semblance of chemistry as a couple in roles that require them to actually function on a level that makes their Pollyanna-esque relationship believable. Turning in performances as the aforementioned separated parents, I found it amazing that Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, John Voight and Mary Steenburgen were able to generate any laughs from the vapid, lifeless characters that were written for them. Even the great Carol Kane manages to completely disappear into the background of a character whose dialog undoubtedly wound up on the cutting room floor. At no point during Brad and Kate’s death march through their day of family visitation did it feel as though these seasoned performers added anything more to the film’s plot than the San Fransisco fog that kept our heroes off their plane to Fiji.

If their is a lone shining moment in this film, I would say that it is turned in by Vaughn’s actor-turned-director buddy Jon Favreau. Favreau’s performance as Denver, estranged brother to Brad was over-the-top perfect for this film and it was nice to see him get a chance to enjoy himself in front of the camera for a change.

Four Christmases isn’t the film with which I would advise starting out your holiday movie season. It’s hardly worth getting worked up over considering the lack of originality, substance, humor and any sort of a genuine Christmas feel. However, I do find it both confusing and perplexing that director Seth Gordon, who previously turned in some amazing work with the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, decided that this derelict was an appropriate followup. Do yourself a favor and pick up Scrooged, A Christmas Story or even Ernest Saves Christmas… but divorce yourself from the thought of seeing Four Christmases.