Well I just had a chance to watch it and it's fantastic. Hypnotic, beautiful, and thought provoking. It also made me hate Four Christmases that much more. It's astonishing to go from a movie with such depth to a movie with almost none. Seth Gordon says that people don't need to go to film school to make movies - and maybe so - but he sure as hell does.
Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) have been deliriously happy for three years enjoying their entirely selfish lifestyle. They have no intention to ever get married or have kids as one might imagine this becomes a point of contention between the two. Every Christmas they visit an exotic locale in an attempt to avoid their crazy divorced families when this year they are hoodwinked by dense fog and are forced to visit all four of their families Christmas day.
Brad's mother and father's families are both certifiable. His brothers are UFC fighters and his father is a world class jerk. His mother is somewhat normal but also happens to be dating Brad's best friend. After 3o pointless minutes getting to know them we move on to Kate' s families. They tend to be wealthier and at least somewhat normal. Kates mother and father are all pretty normal people but not particularly funny. There's not one child in this entire movie that doesn't belong in Juvi.
Somehow, however, after a non-preganancy scare and most of the day spent with the Children of the Corn this prompts Kate to want to have children eventually and maybe even get married (despite the fact that noone we've met all day has a healthy relationship). Naturally Brad doesn't want this and they break up (temporarily you ask? Of course!). Naturally everything ends well after some soul searching - apparently.
As you might surmise, I didn't like this movie. It wasn't remotely funny. It isn't a movie like Epic Movie and the like where you can spot where the humour is supposed to be it just isn't done very well. This movie has no descernable humour in it. Brad gets beat up a lot, there are a lot of awkward moments and Brad and Kate are condescending and somewhere in there laughs are supposed to happen but I'll be damned if I can find out where.
There is also no conflict in this movie save for the superficial conflict between them and their families but we know that can't be the major conflict because it's never resolved. The two have brief little arguments but they don't stick. Even the climax was way too short to really show the audience that these characters have gone through any lasting changes. They argued a brief moment about their future then Brad left to see his father (who is a particularly horrible human being) and realized that he could end up lonely like him if he's not careful but that isn't the least bit evident. This, for some reason makes him realize that he loves Kate. Here's the problem, love was never the problem. All this means is that he realized that he'd rather be with Kate than be like his father and if he has to put up with marriage and kids, so be it. Brad doesn't progress as a person at all and for that matter neither does Kate.
So we have no character arc, no likeable characters, no climax, no humour. So I'd say avoid it. If however, it's a choice between this and Twilight, go with this...and use the time to prepare your taxes or something. It certainly won't keep your attention.
So there you have it, my first post. Now get the hell off the internet and go watch a movie. I give it:
Now before anybody gets too confused, I HATE pre-wrapped straws so my scale goes from 1 to 5 but five is the lowest grade which will be given to the worst of the worst and zero pre-wrapped straws given to only movies (or TV episodes) that are instant classics.
