Couples retreat

There comes a point in an actor's career where he can "write his own ticket." When he or she has a production company, or starts writing or directing, this person can fully decide on what to do. Different actors do different things with this power. Some take on smaller passion projects, some go for the glory and do something mammoth. Some, like all of those involved in the Ocean's movies, take the time to go on vacation under the guise of making a movie. Enter Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. Vaughn has a production company, Favreau has new clout off Ironman and the two men once wrote a screenplay for a excellent little movie called Swingers. So, what should these two men do now? Obviously they decided to write a movie that put them in paradise! Oh also they get to married to the likes of Malin Ackerman and Kristen Davis. Not a bad gig if you can get it, right?

Jason(Jason Bateman) and Cynthia(Kristen Bell) are a couple on the verge of a divorce. They still love each other but they cannot have kids and the stress and pressure have pushed them to the brink. In a last ditch effort to save their marriage, they want to go to this island for couples who are trying to fix their relationships. They cannot afford it on their own, so they have to convince their other couple friends to go with them. After some cajoling, the other couples agree to go, but only because they think they can do just the fun stuff. Of course, when they get there, they find out they have to do it all, including couple's therapy. Dave(Vaughn) and Ronnie(Ackerman) don't think they need therapy but as soon as they get in, they start to have problems. Joey(Favreau) and Lucy(Davis) are married but hate each other and are only together for their daughter. They both cheat whenever possible, so this weekend is just torture for them and Shane(Faison Love) and Trudy(Kali Hawk) are a mismatched couple. She is 23 yrs old and he is 40 and they just fight all of the time. The paradise island offers all sorts of conflicts to go with the gorgeous back drop and for about an hour we watch these couples do their best to get angry, stay angry and ruin their trip.

Couples Retreat offers enough laughs to sustain the picture until the third act when the far too cheesy stuff comes into play, but it does not overwhelm an audience with laughter. It is funny, but in a far too polite way most of the time. I kind of felt like I was constantly waiting for the midnight show to start and see these characters really cut loose because I know these actors have it in them. Bateman is constricted the most by the material and the character. it almost felt as if he was suffocating under the sweater vests and prim speech. Vaughn and Favreau get most of the jokes, but having heard them so much funnier, this just felt tame. Who wants to see the two guys from Swingers be tame? No one, that is who. When one of the funniest gags in your movie is a little kid peeing in a toilet in home depot type store, you know something has gone wrong. That is not to say that scene isn't hilarious because it is and Vaughn's reaction to the goings on is priceless, but these guys wrote Swingers!

For their part, everyone does alright. Malin Ackerman's best line did not make it into the movie, but is in the trailer, so that was a downer but she is mostly believable as a woman married to Vince Vaughn. She manages to tone down her sexy model looks and just look like a hot mom. Kristen Davis gets to be the feistiest of the women and she looks smoking hot. I am not sure if it is because I have been watching Sex and the City lately and am used to seeing her all buttoned up, but Davis' body is slamming and she is not shy about showing off the curves. Kristen Bell is a lot like Bateman in that she is constricted by the prim and proper character she is playing. She lets loose towards the end, but she is capable of so much more, in my opinion. Faison Love and Kali Hawk probably get the most laughs because of how different they are. He is a seriously overweight man and she is a smoking hot college girl. She can be a bit annoying with the octave of her voice, but she is actually pretty funny.

As is often the case with these movies, there are some secondary characters that get to be quirky, like a too handsy yoga instructor, Jean Reno as the love guru character and a Butler like character they all call Mr. Belvedere. Also, there are four different therapists, one played by Ken Jeong and another by John Michael Higgins who are both recognizable from bit parts in other comedies. None of these side characters is particularly funny, but they do get in some chuckles. The Mr. Belvedere character does get to be involved in what is probably the movie's one great scene involving Guitar Hero. Battling it out to "Lonely is the Night" Vaughn and Belvedere engage in some epic Guitar Hero playing. The scene is shown in split scene, multiple split screens, jump cuts and some other craziness and the facial expressions are very funny. It is the highest energy moment in the movie and made me wish the rest of the movie rose to the occasion.

There is some good comedy here, but I think watching these actors on vacation would have made a funnier movie. There was just too much talent to put out something only moderately funny. The scenery is gorgeous and it is shot impressively, but I am not sure they took enough advantage of the surroundings until the movie was almost over. Often time this movie felt like it could have taken place anywhere in the world and that is probably the true crime. If you are hoping the movie will take a sharp turn anywhere at all, be prepared to be disappointed as the movie wraps up in a strictly by the numbers way.

Final Grade: C