Four Christmases

Four Christmases (Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Kristen Chenoweth, John Voight, Sissy Spacek) — Put enough stars together in a fun, family holiday film, and you have a movie destined for big box office.  Don’t confuse that with meaning this will be a good movie.  Four Christmases is not a good movie; it’s a fun movie.  It is a pleasurable waste of 90 minutes, and that’s OK. If you have seen the trailer, you know that our two lovers, Brad and Kate, lie to their families and go away on a romantic trip every Christmas rather than spend the time with their dysfunctional families.  And who would blame them?  Brad has a dad (Duvall) and two demented brothers who never did anything worthwhile and who look down on their successful lawyer son/brother.  His mom (Spacek) is going out with Brad’s former best friend in a ridiculous May-December romance that Brad can’t handle.  Kate’s family is a little more normal but not much.  Mom (Mary Steenburgen looking marvelous) has turned evangelical and is dating her fire-preaching pastor.  Dad (Voight) is happy, regretful, and sage-like despite his four previous marriages.  Stuck at home in San Francisco due to fog and outed on TV, the couple visits all four houses in one of those “longest days in history.”  The plot — what there is of it — tries to turn poignant and deliver a message for some reason I could not figure out.  In fact, the moral is lost with the ending.  But along the way, there are laughs and giggles, the best of which is a kid who projectile vomits.  OK, so it isn’t sophisticated humor.  This movie is exactly what it purports to be — an hour-and-a-half of comedy.  And don’t we need more movies like that?

 

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