Vince Vaughn Movie:

Editorial Review:
Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau team up after their '90s career-making hit, Swingers, to write and costar in Couples Retreat, a romantic comedy that's heavy on the satire, but is also knowing and wry, as Swingers is at its best. Vaughn and Favreau are joined in the top-notch cast by the always engaging Kristin Bell (whose appearance with Vaughn, in a romantic tropical setting, may remind viewers of Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis (Sex and the City), Faizon Love, and Jean Reno. Fans of romantic comedies, and comedies of manners, will be delighted at the snappy interaction among the actors, and the zingers delivered by the script.

"You are not buying some 20-year-old broad a motorcycle!" yells Vaughn's character, Dave, to Love's character, Shane, who's having an early midlife crisis. "She's a kid! Buy her a Hello Kitty book!" Turns out that all the couples in Dave and Shane's circle are having issues, and decide to take a group tropical vacation. Ah, but there's a catch: the island getaway comes with mandatory couples counseling and bonding events. Most of the film's laughs come from cringe-worthy fish-out-of-water moments, though there are some pretty great fish-in-water moments, too: Dave begins to panic during a test involving swimming with sharks. "It's time to get the gun, and shoot some fish!"

Reno is also a standout, as the unctuous New Age-y director of the retreat, fearless in spewing half-nonsense yet having the almost admirable courage to stand behind his convictions. The film was directed with a light hand by Peter Billingsley, who starred as young Ralphie in A Christmas Story, and who has acted with Vaughn in Four Christmases and The Break-Up. And somehow, among the lunacy and the beauty of nature, friends and soulmates may just find the way back to each other. Just steer clear of the Jet Skis. --A.T. Hurley

Couples Retreat [Blu-ray] Reviews:
A few laughs doesn't make a sucky movie good
2009-10-19 - There were MANY reasons why I disliked this movie. But the number one reason was that it was supposed to be funny, and wasn't. Sure, there were a few funny scenes that made me laugh, but that doesn't make a good movie.

One of the greatest disappointments for me about this movie was that I think it could have actually been good. A lot of people are stressed out with day to day responsibilities (which eventually hurts their marriage and parenting) and can't take off to a tropical paradise, as shown in this movie (unless you put it on a credit card, but that will make your day to day problems worse, right?). I was thinking perhaps a movie like this would make people laugh and see that they already have what matters most in life (not that I ever depend on movies for life lessons). However, the movie gives none of that.

The humor is as lame as a Yoga instructor rubbing his crotch again and again on the people he's instructing. Funny, sure, but it happens over and over again. It's cheap humor. Even worse, one of the hubbies in the movie was trying desperately to find an appropriate place to satisfy himself (I guess men have their needs, right?). One of the other hubbies was a fatso who forgot to wear his skivvies and ended up naked during one of the exercises. Somewhere else in the movie, a little boy pees in a toilet at the store (not a toilet in the bathroom). Since it was funny, the movie decides to have him take a dump in that same toilet the next time. How old were the writers of this film? I'm not a grumpy old man (though I'm sure I sound like one right now). This type of humor doesn't offend me. However, what offends me is when I pay to see a funny movie and get nothing more than humor any teenager could have put together in a few short minutes.

Aside from that, the plot (if we can call it that) was so predictable. I mean, it seemed like they didn't even try! I hope I don't give anything away when I say (yes, I'm being sarcastic) the movie is about four troubled couples. They go to this island paradise and get into all sorts of wacky adventures. The guys act like a bunch of bimbos while the women all lust after a hunky Yoga instructor who is obviously a pervert. In the end, they all realize they love each other and apparently live happily ever after. I couldn't help but think they all deserved each other.

I heard plenty of laughter all around me during the movie, so perhaps it was just me who thought it was awful. Perhaps I was one of the only people who were disappointed because it looked like it could have actually been good.

If You Want To Save Your Marriage, Don't Go See This With Your Spouse
2009-10-13 - This was a missed opportunity to make a hilarious movie if ever there was one. The premise is four couples who are friends and each having their own marital problems decide to go on a couples retreat in order to spice up their dull marriages, as suggested by one of the couples who've been experiencing problems conceiving a child for years. They end up at a private, upscale beach resort called "Eden". "Eden West" specializes in providing counseling for married couples. (The other side of the island is called "Eden East" and is for singles.)

The premise has all of the right ingredients for a potentially great, fun and hilarious romantic comedy. But the problem with "Couples Retreat" is that the dialogue is boring, the jokes are not funny, and there are no real comedians in the movie. Vince Vaughn is OK, and Faizon Love and his ghetto-fabulous girlfriend have a few funny moments. Of the few scenes that will make you LOL, you've already seen in the previews on TV. You'll get all of your laughs in (if you laugh at all) during the first 20 minutes of the film.

During the rest of the movie the couples enjoy marriage counseling sessions, yoga, massages, snorkeling and other trivial exercises lead by a strict leader/instructor who tends to be overly philosophical. And get this - the husbands spend 2/3 of the movie bitchin' at each other. That's right, the fellas are cat-fighting while their wives enjoy themselves and eventually end up at "Eden East" partying with the singles. Totally stupid! Then the movie ends along the lines of "The Wizard of Oz" with the instructor giving each couple a philosophical lecture on love & life, and passing out carved wooden animals??? I was so glad when this movie ended.

Your best bet is to save your money and skip "Couples Retreat". You'll be better off digging through your VHS collection at home and watching "Weekend At Bernie's" for the 99th time with your spouse. At least that was a funny movie.

Don't Listen to Critics It's Hilarious
2009-10-12 - This movie is great. Great supporting cast. Each couples think there is nothing wrong with their marriages that is until they go to Eden a paradise resort ran by the very funny Jean Reno. The scenes with the yogi instructor is too good to repeat. See this movie for yourself. You will enjoy it.

Marriage and its twists and turns...a journey if you will
2009-10-09 - This is a great movie for the winter...funny funny about married couples trying to find a way to continue their journey together. Yes they find answers but it takes time and a few side trips. I really thought this was a funny movie...kind of slowed down at the end when the relationships where trying to reconnect, but the journey was great! Get this movie...and give it as a gift...so you will have a good movie to watch when you visit your friend's house. Oh yea...this is a keeper. This was filmed at the St. Regis Resort in Bora Bora if you want to take a few days off with that special person....

Couples Retreat Movie Review from The Massie Twins
2009-10-09 - Who knew relationship therapy and marriage counseling could be so much fun? Sadly, it isn't. While Couples Retreat has its moments of laugh-out-loud silliness, the themes and overall missions of each set of couples in the film are too serious to simply slide in a few one-liners and sight gags and expect it not to feel forced. Many missed opportunities for laughs (intrusive yoga instructors, Guitar Hero standoffs, and shark-infested waters could have been more comical) dull the proceedings and even funnyman Vince Vaughn seems crowded by too many others trying to steal a piece of the spotlight. With its picturesque tropical paradise setting, chances are the cast had more fun making the movie than you'll have watching it.

When seemingly happy couple Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) announce they've been carefully planning a divorce, their married friends Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman), Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis), and Shane (Faizon Love) and his new girlfriend Trudy (Kali Hawk) are guilted into joining them on a tropical paradise vacation at the prestigious Eden Resort. Initial reluctance gives way to awe and excitement at the bevy of exotic sights and activities available at the retreat, until the couples realize that the relationship therapy portion is not only mandatory but strictly executed by a host of oddball "experts", including the esteemed counselor Monsieur Marcel (Jean Reno). Forced into compromising positions and pressured into reflecting upon the imperfections of their own unions, each set of couples must now struggle to maintain their marriages while complying with the island's rigorous regimen.

Every marriage has problems, but not all are meant to be solved. At least that's what Dave believes in this mess of generic marital issues, commonplace romance and predictable solutions. The location is certainly a paradise, but serves only to momentarily divert the eyes from the boring characters hashing out their unconvincing disagreements. Traveling to this "Disneyland for adults," (or as Favreau exclaims, "this looks like a screensaver!") provides an opportunity for four distressed lovers to reignite the dying flames of love. What it doesn't afford is a single new idea or fresh joke.

Bateman plays his usual character, as does Favreau and Vaughn, further amplifying the familiarity of the roles and situations. Jean Reno doesn't stray far from his turn in The Pink Panther films, and the alarmingly suggestive, inappropriate yoga and uncomfortable nudity exercises strive for easy yet repetitive gags. The few scenes of therapy show the natural humor stemming from watching others discuss their relationship quandaries, the beach bodies are pleasantly frequent, and a few sequences absolutely don't belong in Couples Retreat - almost as if they were brainstormed ideas that writers Vaughn and Favreau just couldn't live without. As the four couples' love lives are dissected, demolished and then repaired, the only retreat moviegoers will find will be the back of their eyelids.

- The Massie Twins