2008 | U.S. | 88 minutes
Director: Seth Gordon
Writers: Matt R. Allen, Caleb Wilson, Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall , Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen
Distributor: Alliance Atlantis
Cdn video distributor: Alliance Atlantis
Four Christmases is a movie that probably started out as a pitch. It certainly has comedic potential; a loving couple spend Christmas with their wacky divorced parents. Most of us know that family + Christmas can be the greatest love/hate combo there is, ripe with drama and all manner of painfully funny moments. It’s a promising start.
Since Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon are listed as producers, surely their willingness to star in it sealed the deal. The supporting cast they corral is equally stellar; Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Jon Voight, Dwight Yoakam, Sissy Spacek and Jon Favreau.
It sounds hilarious already.
It starts off well enough. The introductory scene is the best, effectively setting up the nature of the relationship between Vaughn and Witherspoon. The verbal sparring between them in subsequent scenes have some nice bits too, and I suspect it’s because they (especially Vaughn) ad-libbed their lines.
Where the story is headed carries no surprises. Vaughn and Witherspoon play commitment-phobic lovers whose disastrous childhoods have killed their ambitions for marriage and kids. You know that will change, no matter how awful their encounters are with family and projectile-vomiting babies.
Oddly, the film sets up all sorts of comedic situations but doesn’t follow through with them. Steenburgen, for example, is introduced as a “cougar” with some inappropriate desires for younger men. Including Vaughan. After she greets him at the door she doesn’t do much else except walk around in a tight dress. Meanwhile her husband is an evangelical minister played by Dwight Yoakam. Just imagine. Man-of-the-cloth with a horny housewife — the laugh-inducing possibilities are endless. But instead he’s used as a device for a poorly mishandled Mary & Joseph scene, where Vaughan very publicly — and without motivation — consciously insults and humiliates Witherspoon.
There’s an old saying that comedy is not about action but reactions. The filmmakers here surely need a lesson in this basic rule. Take, for example, the satellite dish scene. It’s descends into a wild, nicely choreographed slapstick moment with most of the characters screaming and crying their heads off. If they only sat stone-faced (especially Duvall) it would have played beautifully. As it stands, it’s only when Vaughan quietly delivers his punch-line that it pays-off.
This is a comedy filled with great actors, missed opportunities and, occasionally, a laugh-worthy gag. It also ends way too quickly.
The film is listed as running 82 minutes, but over 7 minutes of that is end credits. It’s obvious padding. Even the biggest blockbusters, with hundreds of CGI technicians, don’t milk time that long.
One other thing, did anyone notice Carol Kane as Steenburgen’s sister and fellow cougar? She has maybe one throw-away line, and then disappears. Who on earth hires Carol Kane for a comedy and doesn’t use her? Check out her performance as the Ghost of Christmas Present in Scrooged. It’s one of the funniest things you’ll ever see.
- Theatrical release date: November 26, 2008
- Video release date: November 24, 2009
- Production Budget: $80 million
- Worldwide Box Office: $163,733,697
FUN ALTERNATIVE: There are a number of solid Christmas-themed comedies such as A Christmas Story, Scrooged and The Ref, but Christmas Vacation incorporates some genuinely funny moments that Four Christmases strives for, but never quite pulls off.
Remember what I said about comedy being about reactions, not action? Try to imagine Clark Griswold having his “Christmas bonus meltdown” if his family wasn’t quietly watching. Or the Christmas lights scene without the unsuspecting neighbours having a quiet romantic interlude. The act is only as funny as the reaction its tempered with — and there are some doozies in this one.
It’s also worth highlighting again the Carol Kane scene in Scrooged. It may be the ultimate slapstick scene in cinema history. And what reaction makes it over-the-top funny? Kane’s uncontrollable giggling as she sadistically knocks Bill Murray around. She’s so tiny, cute and adorable, its a gleeful contrast to the violence she inflicts.