Four Christmases

Are you looking for a little Christmas cheer? Something to get you warmed up for the holidays, perhaps? If so, this is NOT the movie for you. On the other hand, if you want to watch a movie all about people who are selfish and unlikable, and if you want to see really good actors slumming, this IS the movie for you.

Four Christmases is the story of Kate & Brad (not his real name, as we find out in a not-nearly-as-funny-as-it's-supposed-to-be gag). They are a happily unmarried couple who have no desire to ruin their relationship with marriage, as they are both products of divorced parents. Every year, they forego the family Christmas gatherings and take off on vacation under the guise of doing charity work, to keep their families off of their backs. Naturally, this doesn't go as planned; if it did, there would be no movie. So the twosome is stuck with no other option but to visit both sets of divorced parents, hence the Four Christmases.

I am a big fan of Vince Vaughn. His grown-up frat boy humor & rapid fire comic delivery always works for me. In Four Christmases, he manages to make some of the bland dialogue less dull. But even he can't undo poor writing. He's an extremely likable actor who is having to work too hard. There's a bit of a meta moment during a Nativity scene, in which the character is basically doing what the actor is doing; trying too hard to connect with material that just isn't good.

I've been a fan of Reese Witherspoon since long before she was famous for being a perky little movie star. I saw her childhood acting debut, the little seen "Man in the Moon," when I was in junior high & I knew the minute she came on screen that she deserved to be a star. Then there was a her dark turn in the twisted but hilarious "Freeway" in 1996, and her actual star-making turn in "Election," which put her on the map for the general movie viewing public and garnered her a Golden Globe nomination. However, this movie knocked her down several notches on the acting totem pole, because her boredom and disdain for the material seemed to show through. And (I know this is a superficial complaint) her hair looked distractingly fake, like they threw a cheap Halloween wig on her.

The film wasn't all bad. The laughs were cheap, but they were laughs nonetheless. The supporting cast wasn't bad, especially Jon Favreau's truly funny turn as Brad's all brawn & no brain cagefighter-wannabe brother. I also really liked Kristin Chenoweth as Kate's cougar-in-training older sister; her helium-sucking voice fit the role perfectly. All of the big name actors who signed on to play the parents were typecast in parts they've all perfected to a science. Cranky Robert Duvall, hippy-dippy Sissy Spacek, and Mary Steenburgen as a cougar. Then there's Jon Voight, who seemed really bored, like he has in almost all of his post-70's films.

Overall, Four Christmases was kind of bummer. None of the characters were very likable. Brad & Kate are basically not very nice people (although the reasoning behind Brad's estrangement from his mom is understandable, in what is one of the few funny parts). Reese Witherspoon spends the entire movie crinkling her nose or tilting her head to the side to show emotions. She phoned in the entire performance, without a single sign of genuine feeling to be seen anywhere.

I entered the theater willing to sacrifice a little quality in order to have a few cheap laughs. I was hoping for more than I got, but the laughs I did get will suffice. Still, I wish the film hadn't been mired down with such bored performances and such a long stretch of seriousness. If there had been more laughs than whining from the lead characters, I may have left feeling a little bit more generous. But this is one Christmas movie that leaves me feeling like a Scrooge. Mistletoe, indeed.