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Review of Couples Retreat
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© Universal Pictures
Couples Retreat is the kind of movie that makes you ask two questions: how and why? How could a group of such talented actors and actresses agree to make such a boring and trite film? And why would they sully their reputations just to spend a couple months in a tropical location? After seeing this movie, that's the only conceivable reason they could want to be a part of this flick.
The plot is a pretty simple one: of the four couples featured, one of them (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell) are thinking of getting a divorce but before they do, they decide to take a trip to a tropical resort that includes couple's therapy. They get a group rate and convince three other couples to join them with the promise that they won't have to participate in the therapy portion. Once they get there, they find out that the therapy is mandatory for all couples and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sorry, I just passed out from boredom.
But it's not the plot that's the problem. The Hangover and Superbad proved that a film doesn't have to have a stellar plot to make a great movie. The biggest problem with Couples Retreat is that it's PG-13, everything just feels too safe. Many of the jokes and set-ups for jokes had the potential to be hilarious and instead they went the safe route and squandered whatever chance this movie had of being something worth seeing. Something else that The Hangover and Superbad proved is that a comedy can be R-rated and still be a success. You needn't look any further than the fact that The Hangover is currently the highest grossing R-rated comedy.
What makes this flick truly disappointing is that Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau wrote it. These are the guys that wrote Swingers and Made, two great comedies that showcase their knack for exceptional dialogue and highlight the excellent chemistry they have on-screen. Both of those things are noticeably absent in Couples Retreat and it hurts the film in a big way. Especially painful to say is that Vince Vaughn now belongs in the same category as Jon Heder and Michael Cera: actors that play the same character in every movie with the same pacing, same type of dialogue and same mannerisms. It's boring and the movies they star in suffer as a result. The same can be said of Couples Retreat, a movie that is boring, predictable and is not worth your time.
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