Four Christmases dir. by Seth Gordon

I didn’t like this film. Not at all. Well, maybe that is a slight lie, cause bits of it were funny, and I did laugh. And some scenes worked well. But overall I really did not like this film. The main reason is that it just tries to hard to sell us this message that I just took exception to.

The two heroes, Brad and Kate, have been together for 3 year and seem to have a pretty good relationship. But if that what it is like at the opening then the audience should know that things aren’t going to continue that way. But they are even all that likeable as characters. They are smug and self-satisfied and selfish. But that is part of this film’s message. It seemed to me to say that if you are a couple who are happy being together without wanting to get married and have children, well then you just don’t know what real happiness is all about. That is family, by the way, in case you haven’t seen other “holiday” films before now.

And for a film with so many stars in it this is just a crap movie. Very little works well. The opening scene is as predictable as any I’ve ever seen. Poorly executed and pointless. The closing scene is trite and also predictable. Everything about this film is predictable. From the horrible encounters with the families to the resolutions to the development^[1] of the characters.

So what did I enjoy… Well Vaughan’s character has one or two of his rambling spiels that are also fun to watch. But this only really shows how much better the film could have been. The fight scene in the Jump-Jump, now that was excellent. Who doesn’t love to see little kids being hurled about the place. And Dallas and Denver. they were great characters, as were the two kids, especially the streaker.

But there isn’t enough there. Don’t bother yourself with this film. It really isn’t worth it.

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