Synopsis:
When a couple tries to fly away from their
family for Christmas, as they do every year,
their fun turns around when all flights have
been canceled and they're seen on television by
everyone they know. Now they have to go to
four houses to celebrate Christmas while going
through memories they don't want to go into and
surprises they can't handle while they have to
use a safe word to get out of situations.
The Freak's Rating:
B- : Sometimes giving a rating to a movie is
more difficult than other times. This just
barely fits into the recommendation category of
an A or a B, but I feel it has to remain there.
Most critics will blast this, but I'd ask them
to compare apples to apples when they review, as
I do. Four Christmases is a holiday
romantic comedy. There have been many
attempts in this genre and I don't feel this one
excels any further than previous entries, but
one who buys a ticket to this film will get what
they expect, therefore I would recommend it to
that person.
Casting saves this film. Vaughn and
Witherspoon interact well and the supporting
cast performs well with the material they're
given. The problem lies within the
material, as one might expect. Four
Christmases is a retread of many holiday and
romantic comedies. I don't know why
writers in Hollywood can't understand the
physics of the cable that travels from a
television to a satellite dish, but apparently
they never will. In Hollywood, these
cables are made of solid steel allowing one to
pull a satellite dish from a rooftop and pull
the television along with it. Perhaps
these writers should attempt to hookup their own
equipment some time. If they did they
might realize that satellite dish wires run into
receivers, not televisions, and are fairly easy
to pull from their connections.
Satellite dish hookups aside, writing is still
dreadful in parts. Without a cast as solid
as this, this is a sure fire F. John
Favreau has a wonderful turn as Vaughn's
brother, as does a nearly unrecognizable Tim
McGraw. There are a few scenes delivered
so well by the cast that you have to giggle.
Witherspoon's mother's side of the family is
particularly enjoyable as a pack of cougars who
eye Vaughn like a piece of fresh meat.
Four
Christmases fails on a number of levels, but is
still par for the course. Dialogue is
awful at times, the script has major holes and
the ending is incredibly predictable.
Those who grade movies strictly will fail this
for sure. However, those who want this
type of film will enjoy it. Therefore,
according to the site's ratings I must leave it
in the B category, though it is as low as I can
put it.
Jen's Rating:
C+ : I didn't go into this movie with very
high expectations at all. There are so many
Christmas movies out there and just a small
percentage of those are worthy of a repeat
viewing every year. Some of my favorites
include Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Elf and
Love Actually (we're watching that tonight).
This movie was better than I expected and rather
entertaining. I found myself excited to see
what would happen at the next Christmas and we
laughed at a few different parts. Not something
that needs to be seen in the theater and not a
movie that's great for kids.
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