Couple's Retreat Review

Couple's Retreat continues to perform well in box offices more than a month after the film's theatrical release. This film works perfectly as a date movie. It manages to incorporate the perfect amount of relationship humor for the ladies with the plenty of humor for the male audience. While the film is not the most entertaining, its story and ability effectively keep audiences busy as its twisty road ends predictably.

The film follows four couples on a retreat to a tropical island paradise that forces them to follow a strict program in an attempt for one of the couples Jason and Cynthia (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell) to rekindle the love of their marriage. The other three couples have only come to help this couple prevent divorce. There is the seemingly perfect marriage of Dave and Ronnie. (Vince Vaughn and Malin Ackerman) There is the beyond dysfunctional marriage of Joey and Lucy (Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis) who are only staying married until their kid graduates. Then there is Shane (Faizon Love) whose wife just left him so he is taking his new 20- year-old girlfriend Trudy (Kali Hawk). The four couples undergo relationship therapy with the flamboyant and unorthodox Marcel (Jean Reno) who has created this island paradise.

The odd thing about this film is that it undertakes the rare responsibility of making Vince Vaughn seem like the good and normal husband. This a bizarre change of pace from Vaughn's usual M.O. of being the crazy and frat like friend. He is usually the loveable ass#@!*so this change is actually welcomed even though the plot forces him to fall into his usual on screen personality, but Vaughn is still funny as is his favorite on screen partner Favreau. His character Joey does not care his marriage or being faithful and is obsessed with getting to the singles party on the other side of the island.

Overall the movie focuses too much on character development and not enough on laughs. While character development is important in all films the audience eventually reaches the point during Couple's Retreat where we know each of the characters quirks that we no longer need the character development and want a little more humor. Another flaw in the film is that it is inconceivable how Jason Bateman's obsessive compulsive, lame and nerdy Jason landed the much hotter Cynthia played by Bell. While the script makes her seem more like him in the film. She did not look comparable to him in age and personality.

Couple's Retreat receives a B-. It's great date movie but not anything that most people would want to see a second time or add to their DVD collection.