Four Christmases
Four Christmases goes a long way to legitimizing my unwritten axiom – beware of movies with an all star cast. But what a cast – Robert Duval, Cissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Kristin Chenoweth, John Voight, Jon Favreau and country stars Tim McGraw and Dwight Yokum all trying desperately to make a comedy out of a script that isn’t funny. Kudos to Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn who despite personal creative differences managed to pull off something akin to on-screen chemistry. Too bad that isn’t enough. They play Kate and Brad, a San Francisco power couple committed to non-commitment who annually ditch Christmas with the family in favour of a sizzling time on a hot latitude. When their flight gets fogged in they are forced to attend four family gatherings – the result of each being the children of divorced parents. At every gathering secrets best left a mystery are revealed to Brad and Kate about each other which tug at their solid relationship. Sounds promising on paper but lame setups to lamer gags make Four Christmases the longest 82 minutes you’ll ever sit through and despite the quartet of stories set in the season of giving leaves us with nothing resembling a gift.