Saturday, December 13, 2008

FOUR CHRISTMASES

“4 CHRISTMASES” (Vince Vaughn & Reese Witherspoon)
Why does garbage like this do so well at the box office? All I remember – other than Robert Duvall & Jon Voight embarrassing themselves by appearing in it – is an inane scene where Vaughn is attempting to install a satellite dish atop his father’s house,
falling off the roof with dish in hand and destroying his dad’s television by making it fly about the den crashing against the walls... ho ho (yawn) ho...
I went because I like Vaughn – ‘Fred Clause’ wasn’t complete crap so with the above mentioned vets, I thought this might be a cut above the normal Christmas movie fare... it isn’t. It’s trash. Not a hollow turd like ‘Christmas with the Kranks’ or ‘Deck the Halls’, but it isn’t worth your time or money.
The premise is as shallow as the lead characters; to avoid their families during Christmas, couple Vaughn & Witherspoon go on vacation Christmas week – When all flights are cancelled & they are interviewed on local TV (&, of course, their families ‘just happen’
to all be watching at that precise moment) they are forced to visit all 4 of their divorced parents’ homes. Each just as boring & unfunny as the next – At least it explains why they go out of town every December to avoid these people – the only ‘merry’ part of this celluloid nightmare is when the credits begin to roll & you can get away from these annoying jackasses...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may be holding a seasonal popcorn movie to a standard too high. I agree that matinee prices or a second-run house or Netflix might be advised. On the other hand, I laughed at "Four Christmases" far more often than at "Get Smart." I guess we just have different senses of humor.

On to the parts rather than the whole hole.

Aren't all families [beyond the nuclear family] jackass-ridden? Wouldn't nuclear families be jack-ass-ridden if they went beyond 5 or 6 people?

Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek were wasted. I have not been impressed with Voight since "The Rainmaker," so I expected less of him. He delivered.

I thought Reese Witherspoon with the bratty children captured an important part of family and Christmas. Terrorism has gotten such a bad name since 9/11 that people tend to forget how important threats are. [Wally and the Beav never forgot that! They often suggested that Ward was abusive.]

I also enjoyed the cougar-fest, although the film does not explain the connection between all those amorous older women and Washington State University. Maybe they all went to high school at WSU, BYU, or Houston.

The parody of the evangelical/pentecostal church made me chortle as if I were back at "Religulous."

Although I suspect that you are correct that most Xmas-exploitation movies are pretty tedious and I know that you are correct that "Four Christmases" was utterly predictable, this satire on young, urban professionals was better than some.

Maybe "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life" persist because they are less bad than Xmas films in the last 60 years? ["Bad Santa" excepted for your sensibilities]

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with Terry. It appears awfully obvious this was a quick cash grab for all involved. Even though they are delivering their lines correctly, they all seemed rather vacant or distracted ( Vaughn )

I have to somewhat disagree with Voight though. I thought he was good as Howard Cosell in a Oscar nominated performance in Ali. Also decent as Adolph Rupp in Glory Road and The Manchurian Candidate.

No, I wasn't expecting Oscar nominated performances from 4, but I just felt the writing was lackluster. It seemed the actors didn't find the material truly funny. Like you would expect in a film like Caddyshack or Trading Places. You sense they were having fun doing those movies. Not with this film though.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sticking up for me, Movieluva! Just for the record - I am a member of Mr.Smithee's family (By marriage) so when he mentions 'jassass-ridden' families, he means 'ME'. But that's all right - I wear the badge proudly! The fact that he actually laughed once during '4 Xmases' is an embarrassment, let alone to admit that he laughed 'more' times than he did during 'Get Smart' - seems to be the best he could hope for was a 0-0 tie! & what the heck, Big Al - Why did you even waste your valuable time going to see 4 F-ing Christmases anyway? He 'enjoyed' the Cougar-fest - that's the first signs of Alzheimer's setting in, Mr. Smithee, see a doctor about that.
& to suggest that Ward 'beat' the Beaver is just plain wrong... on the other hand, if June were accused of beating Beav, I'd have to take that claim a bit more seriously... Oh My Lord, he didn't actually compare '4 Craphouses' with 'Religulous', did he? & don't try to save yourself by paying tribute to the funniest Christmas movie ever - 'Bad Santa', it's too late for that, you hack!
No, I wasn't expecting these big named actors to give 'grand' performances either, but I did expect better than what one normally gets with this fare & they 'lowered' themselves to the genre rather than raise the level of the bar... 4 Christmases stinks - Yet still, there it is, #1 for a second week... Just goes to prove that Americans love crap...

Anonymous said...

Terry knows that he cannot even make the playoffs for biggest jackass once his in-laws join the contest. And none of those jackasses is related to him by blood. Enjoy your genetic advantage, sucka!

As Terry knows, I have very few choices for movies in the sticks where I sometimes live. "4 Xmases" was the best I could do. Imagine the alternatives that drove me to any Xmas movie!

Indeed, if I lived in an urban setting, I should never have seen "Get Smart."

I'll get checked for "Al Davis" Syndrome. I still think that "Caddyshack" is grossly [in two senses] overrated, so I cannot be in the grips of dementia juvenilis. But I root for the Faders so dementia senilis is a possibility.

No, I did not compare "4 Craphouses" to "Religulous." Maybe my sister should read the screen to you, Terry. I wrote that a setting made me laugh as if I were back in "Religulous." If the Vaughn called Witherspoon "Rosebud" at any point and I noted "Citizen Kane," I should not be comparing "4 Craphouses" to Orson Welles' classic. It's an allusion or a reference, not a comparison, jackass!

I cited "Bad Santa" because I knew you liked it. Ghastly Christmas film! In my opinion, that movie combined with various "Santa Clause" franchises and "The Tuck Rule" caused our current economic distress.

Anonymous said...

Cruise to www.nytimes.com and read the Bruce Headlam article about Clint Eastwood [14 December 2008].

Anonymous said...

1) I only used Caddyshack as a reference to a comedy where you know they had fun on that set. In 4 the actors really looked like they were acting ( forcing it ) to be funny. Like I said before, I think the source material ( screenplay ) is weak.

2) I did read that article Mr. Smithee. I go to the NY Times daily and that is a good article with Clint. I'm looking forward to Gran Torino as this is most likely the last film he acts in.

Like the article says, Clint already picked up a win from the National Board Of Review. That can't hurt his chances at an Oscar nomination. In no way would I be surprised if he was nominated. The Academy seem to respect and like him and they may honor the performance in GT for as career culmination of performances.

I also here that it isn't a completely dark film as say Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River were, and there are subtle and light ( comic ) moments in the film that break the dark tone from it being a totally morose character and movie. And redemption in film is never a bad thing in a dark premise.

Anonymous said...

I pretty much am in agreement with Terry as well, it pretty much blowed. It was trying too hard to be funny. Did we really need the knuckleheaded wrestling brothers? That was painfully miscast and written in.

I do though highly enjoy it when Mr. Smithee joins in on the critiques. I hope he sees some movies that have Oscar buzz attached to them, because I'd be interested in what he thought of them. If he needs a list, just look at what movieluva put down. There might be a few she missed but the ones she did I would think stand good chances at nominations.

Oh, I also did a preview for Grand Torino. It's over at oscartracker.blogspot.com And I will also be putting up my Oscar predictions soon.

Hope to hear more from Mr. Smithee during the awards season.

Anonymous said...

That's why I love to write s--t that will goad Mr. Smithee into responding.

Anonymous said...

Is it just me or was it totally obvious that most of the actors ( save for Withersppon ) look like they are taking a raincheck on any kind of believable acting ?

This was a hard turkey to sit through. They should be embarrassed.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for weighing in with your comments, Arthur - always nice to see a new name; but I do have one question for you - You actually thought Reese WASN'T mailing in her performance either??? I'm almost in shock that you thought she put forth any effort (Unless, like me you find her normally hard to watch & thus, she looked as awful as she has in most of her other roles)
I actually thought all involved should be embarrassed by this film - but you're right in that I 'expected' a lot more from Vaughn, Duvall & Voight than I did from Witherspoon (She's used to making crap)