Movie Review: Four Christmases
Rating: 2 Stars
Four Christmases is the ultimate C-movie. It passes all of its remedial classes but isn’t going to impress your mother when she sees the report card.
I’ve never seen Meet the Parents but I would imagine that a lot of the same beats were extracted from that movie and director Seth Gordon added some ornaments and tinsel to make this film.
Four Christmases has some B-movie potential considering its two leads are well-established actors more than capable of holding this movie down on their own. Vince Vaughn plays a disaffected smart-mouth named Brad which tracks because Vaughn gives off unwavering Brad energy.
His girlfriend Kate is played by Reese Witherspoon and it's hard to find much to opine about her character because there’s not much there. I’d wager to say Reese was likely more hampered by having three male writers taking the script in a male-focused direction. Vaughn gets a majority of the laugh lines while Reese is subjected to various unfunny punishments like having stage fright, losing her pregnancy test to a bounce house full of children, and being an overweight baby.
Vaughn takes a beating from his trailer park relatives as well but he gets off pretty easy considering one of the kids had an easy opportunity to kick him in the balls. There are moments of slapstick humor, but the film doesn’t fully commit. I’ve never been a fan of slapstick comedy as I rarely see it having comedic payoff.
Four Christmases at its best lets Vaughn engage his in-laws and family members with his snark and sarcasm. Most of the comedic bits are surface-level commentary on how much holidays with our in-laws are an exercise in mental and physical brutality, which is a concept that works.
Brad and Kate convince themselves that the problem is their family dynamics when they have to take a look under the hood and realize they are no better. The crumbling relationship flows with their visits to each household. The resolution ends up bolted together and disjointed. The final words of wisdom fall flat.
Four Christmases was an early release in the career of director Seth Gordon. He went on to direct Horrible Bosses and Baywatch (2017). Gordon has directed episodes for well-beloved television shows like Atypical and The Office, but his film credits have yet to pan out.
