Couples Retreat

“Couples Retreat” is a mildly amusing comedy that has the audience asking similar questions about the film to the ones the film asks about the couples- do they have the ability to make this work?

It’s a tough question to answer with the film. The filmmakers began with a middle of the road premise and middle of the road comedic actors (such as B-comedy veteran Vince Vaughn). Given the proper amount of humor, maybe after breaking a few rules, this comedy could have worked. As it stands, however, the film proves that some comedies really are just doomed to fail.

“Couples Retreat” follows four couples as they make their way to a couple’s resort that turns out mainly to be a couple’s rehab. As the couples are forced to work together, what seemed good no longer seems so, problems that may or may not have actually been there are unleashed, and the couples continually resent each other and the therapists keeping them there.

Vince Vaughn shows no growth as an actor. In every movie that this reviewer has seen him (and as a former lover of Ben Stiller movies, it’s a decent amount), he has played the exact same character. Maybe the circumstances differed a little bit, but Vaughn never does. While there is some benefit to being a type (especially one that haunts the same comedies that will continue to be made for years), without a little versatility Vince Vaughn will discover that monotony can ruin a career the same way it can ruin a marriage.

As far as the other actors in the film go, Kristen Bell (Cynthia) is initially difficult to believe as a middle-aged housewife, but she and husband Jason (Jason Bateman) play the part well with decent emotional inflection as their marriage begins to fall apart. Kali Hawk (Trudy) is an increasingly irritating stereotype that appears to be there only for comedic value, which she begins to lack about five minutes into her performance. For such a large cast, the viewer would expect more memorable performances, but the others are as worth remembering as the distant relatives at a wedding reception. Most of them are really more caricatures than characters and don’t really do much to elevate the film.

The film is entertaining for the first ten minutes or so, and the landscape of the retreat can make any couple suddenly desire couple therapy (at least if it contains hot tubs in every room and free, fresh seafood every night). Most of the jokes run for far too long (most notably a yoga scene that jokes about sex as much as the PG-13 rating will allow) and fall flat quickly. The film is predictable to a fault, and the ending is atrocious. Like 50% of American marriages, “Couples Retreat” is a truly forgettable failure. Grade: C