2008 Woodie Awards
MOVIE: FOUR CHRISTMASES
A feast of laughs for romantics
Issue date: 12/5/08 Section: Reviews
by Ben Doerflinger
"Four Christmases" tells the story of Brad and Kate played by Vince Vaughn ("Fred Clause") and Reece Witherspoon ("Sweet Home Alabama") as they see their families during Christmas vacation for the first time in about three years.
Every year, Brad and Kate would dream up some charity work they were doing in some third world country when in reality they were going on some tropical vacation, this time to Fiji. This year, however, their flight is grounded by fog and they are seen on the news, so their parents know that they are stuck in town. Now they have to visit their families, and both of their parents are divorced, so that's four families in one day.
And each parent has got some quirk. Brad's father (Robert Duvall) lives with his brothers, trained UFC cage fighters; and his mother (Sissy Spacek) is in a relationship with his ex-best friend.
Whereas Kate's mother (Mary Steenburgen) is a codger who is sleeping with the local priest, and Kate's niece can only be described as a spoiled brat. Surprisingly, Kate's father (Jon Voight) is the only normal person in the family and always has known that Brad and Kate are just trying to get away from the families.
In the end, Kate and Brad grow closer than before, maturing from just lovers to the next step, to husband and wife.
This was a good comedy and would probably make a pretty good date movie. Vaughn and Witherspoon are hilarious and make jokes about everything from the manger scene of the Bible to bouncy houses, those blow-up places where people can just bounce around every which way. This is probably the "feel good" movie of the holiday season, and I give it a 3 out of 4.
"Four Christmases" tells the story of Brad and Kate played by Vince Vaughn ("Fred Clause") and Reece Witherspoon ("Sweet Home Alabama") as they see their families during Christmas vacation for the first time in about three years.
Every year, Brad and Kate would dream up some charity work they were doing in some third world country when in reality they were going on some tropical vacation, this time to Fiji. This year, however, their flight is grounded by fog and they are seen on the news, so their parents know that they are stuck in town. Now they have to visit their families, and both of their parents are divorced, so that's four families in one day.
And each parent has got some quirk. Brad's father (Robert Duvall) lives with his brothers, trained UFC cage fighters; and his mother (Sissy Spacek) is in a relationship with his ex-best friend.
Whereas Kate's mother (Mary Steenburgen) is a codger who is sleeping with the local priest, and Kate's niece can only be described as a spoiled brat. Surprisingly, Kate's father (Jon Voight) is the only normal person in the family and always has known that Brad and Kate are just trying to get away from the families.
In the end, Kate and Brad grow closer than before, maturing from just lovers to the next step, to husband and wife.
This was a good comedy and would probably make a pretty good date movie. Vaughn and Witherspoon are hilarious and make jokes about everything from the manger scene of the Bible to bouncy houses, those blow-up places where people can just bounce around every which way. This is probably the "feel good" movie of the holiday season, and I give it a 3 out of 4.
Be the first to comment on this story