Couples Retreat Provides Anything but a Treat for Viewers

I always wonder if I should ever opt to rent a movie when nothing comes to mind that I want to see, because it often leaves me wanting my $5 back. And thanks to my viewing experience the other day, I discovered my answer is I shouldn’t.

I grabbed two movies: Couples Retreat and Carriers. Since I grabbed the last copy of Couples Retreat I figured it might be the better of the two so I watched it first- wrong move.

With a big named cast of Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis and Kristen Bell among others, the movie was somewhat interesting to watch, but for a comedy, only made me laugh twice. It also made me realize Vince Vaughn’s production style is much like Adam Sandler’s, but without the funny part. Vaughn’s got the repeating cast of characters.

The movie is about a group of friends (all couples) and the strains on their marriages. When the extremely organized married friends contemplate divorce, they convince the rest of the crew to take a vacation to Eden, a couples retreat mixed with a private party island for singles. Once on Eden, the couples realize that jet skiing and scuba diving is out of the question since they must spend their days according to a counselor’s itinerary. Of course, every couple begins realizing maybe they too don’t have the perfect marriage after strenuous rounds of unwanted counseling and temptation.

As the movie progresses and fights break out, the men and women split up and wander for some fun away from their spouses. Of course, they all wind up at the singles retreat- predictable.

Instead of spoiling the ending, I’ll just note that the two parts of the movie that managed to make me laugh aloud included a kid that was in only in two short scenes. If that doesn’t tell you how much of a treat that movie was (well maybe a dog biscuit), I don’t know what will. I did, however, like how one of the characters was wearing a Buffalo Grove High School shirt in the movie. And all of my colleagues that are Northwestern alums should like that purple shirts had cameos too.

--Reviewed by Christine Rojewski

Comments

[Couples Retreat Soundtrack]

Thank you for reviewing !! My friends told me that it is great comedian film directed by Peter Billingsley. Every scene of this film will make you laugh and happy.