Four Christmases

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Movie Details

• Genre: Comedy
• Release Date: 2008-11-26 Nationwide
• Running Time: 82 min.
• Director: Seth Gordon
• Cast: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Voight, Sissy Spacek
• Producer: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Jonathan Glickman
• Writer: Matt Allen, Caleb Wilson, Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
• Distributor: New Line Cinema
• Official Site: Four Christmases Official Site

To brand, then dismiss, this seasonal allergen as a disappointment would be giving it too much credit—never, for a second, did this New Line Cinema castoff scream or even whisper decent in the run-up to its opening. The story of couple Kate (Reese Witherspoon) and Brad (Vince Vaughn)—not married, might as well be—who, fogged in on December 25, put their planned Fiji frolic on hold to visit their four divorced parents in the course of a single day, the movie doesn’t offer a single surprise within its scant 82 minutes, which feel like at least twice that. There’s happiness and cheer and more than the occasional tear dropped between shouting matches and withering stares, all pre-assembled and gift-wrapped by the ho-ho-hos at The Studio. There was every reason to hope for more. Four Christmases was directed by Seth Gordon, whose 2007 The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was a bittersweet, hilarious documentary in which a cocky mullet squares off against a sweet doofus over a Donkey Kong machine. And Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, seemed as sure a thing as pancakes and bacon on Christmas morning. But even there, the pairing’s off: He’s too much, she’s too little. The movie’s pace is lethargic; it desperately needs a laugh track. Only, the joke’s terrible to begin with. Still, not as bad as Vaughn’s last movie: Fred Claus, last year’s holiday lump of coal.