I’m going to do something I usually don’t do for my reviews… I’m going to start with my rating: 5 stars!  That’s right, this movie written by John Favreau, Vince Vaughn, and Dana Fox and directed by Peter Billingsley (long-time friend and business partner of Vince Vaughn but better known as Ralphie in A Christmas Story) had me ROTFLOL with a big ol’ Simpsons grin all over my face. Produced by Vaughn’s Wild West Picture Show, Couples Retreat doesn’t go overboard with crude, rude, or lewd humor. It delivers on humor gained from life and doesn’t take itself too seriously about marriage and long-lasting relationships. What Couples Retreat manages to do is present a caricature of four types of couples we all know well, and lets us look at life from their perspective.

After an opening montage of marriages from the 50′s through 2009, we meet the four couples that are featured in the movie. For fun I’ll list the couples as if this were The Newlywed Game:

• Couple #1 – Dave and Ronnie, played by Vince Vaughn (The Break-Up) and Malin Akerman (Watchmen); this is the couple that doesn’t realize they are looking at their marriage like a job and both just happen to be “working” in the same relationship with the same children, extended family and friends.
• Couple #2 – Joey and Lucy, played by John Favreau (I Love You Man) and Kristin Davis (Sex And the City); this is the couple that was high school sweethearts. She got pregnant at 18, then got married so they could raise their daughter together. Eventually they realize that they don’t love each other as much as they originally thought they did and are only still “married” just for their daughter.
• Couple #3 – Jason and Cynthia, played by Jason Bateman (Hancock) and Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall); this is the hard-working, does-everything-by-the-book, over-thinking couple that eventually realizes that they may not be as compatible as they thought. They are working on saving their marriage and have a business plan in place to dictate how their lives should be lived.
• Couple #4 – Shane and Trudy, played by Faizon Love (Who’s Your Caddy) and Kali Hawk (this is her first co-starring role in a movie); This is the newest couple in the movie as Shane is recently divorced and dating a younger woman. Only time will tell if he is happy and can move on or is still in shock from the divorce.

Now that the table is set, lets look at the main course – the plot. Jason and Cynthia are having marital problems as she is not able to get pregnant. The stress of this is causing a split in their marriage so they are going to make one last effort and try to save their marriage. Jason and Cynthia know of a tropical place called Eden that has the best couples’ therapy in the world. The only catch is they can’t afford it on their own so if they can get their friends to come along, the costs is cut in half. Reluctantly the other couples agree as a way to show support, get a free trip, and leave to start the journey with their friends. Each couple embodies someone we know and we can laugh with as events unfold at the Eden Resort.

Upon arrival to the resort they learn that there are two parts of Eden: Eden West, where the couples retreat is located and Eden East, where the singles retreat and parties are located. The couples’ retreat is run by Mr Marcel played by Jean Reno (The Pink Panther 2) who is the world’s leading couples spiritualist.  The resort’s job is to make sure that there are no distractions for the couples and allow them to re-learn why they married in the first place and find the missing spark of their marriage. Needless to say hilarity ensues as we watch the couples partake in the couple-building exercises.

Couples Retreat is a comedy that has romance as part of the plot; I would not classify this movie as a Rom-Com (Romantic Comedy for those that aren’t up on their movie ling0).  And boy-howdy do the jokes start flying fast and funny. There are some scenes in this movie that will have you laughing so hard that you’ll want to go back and see the movie again JUST to catch the jokes you missed the first time.  I want to go into detail of the jokes and humor but I’m afraid that if I do I’ll ruin the fun and surprises.  This is the type of comedy where the delivery of the humor is in the words and life situations and not related to pratfalls and sight gags. I won’t ruin the fun but I will say that the younger child of Dave and Ronnie (Vaughn and Akerman) steals the movie in two scenes involving a Home Depot-type store.

As for the main characters, the script was written in such a way as to showcase each couple and their specific problems without taking away from the overall plot.  With this type of movie comes similarities to previous movies such as Parenthood (which itself is now the basis for two TV shows) The Break-Up,  Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I Love You Man. All five of these movies show the funnier side of marriage, relationships, and life. With that, I will say that both Vaughn and Favreau  have great comedy timing and play off of each other with relaxed ease making the comedy flow as if natural and not being pushed. The same is true of the script – it allows everyone to shine through the words and situation and again, no rude or lewd sight gags are needed.  I keep bringing this up as too many movies rely very heavily on crude and/or scatalogical humor, or setup gags that have a cruel punchline. Couples Retreat manages to deliver the humor with a great cast while being real to itself and not talking down to the audience.

Only adding to the humor are the secondary characters, the “quirks” that are always needed to help sell the story. One face you’ll recognize is that of Dr Ken Jeong (The Hangover) who plays the Therapist that Jason and Cynthia talk to at the resort. His soft hands / soft heart approach adds to the quirkiness as he is there to help the hard-nose straight-laced couple try to fix their marriage.  Another character that the audience loved was Stanley [as he says in the movie, "Stanley with a C"] played by Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead). Stanley is the concierge of the resort and Mr Marcel’s right-hand man. Serafinowicz’s portrayal of Stanley reminded me of a very young Christopher Walken in style and appearance. A scene near the end of the film will have you laughing as Dave and Stanley battle each other in Guitar Hero. Yes, another movie works Guitar Hero into the plot it but does add some fun to the style in which used. (This has nothing to do with the review but can you name two other movies that  also used Guitar Hero?  That would be Rain Wilson’s The Rocker and Kevin James’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop.)

The humor (which I keep mentioning but can’t give too many details as it would ruin the fun) and the characters are worth the time to see Couples Retreat. Vaughn and company do a great job in delivering one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. With a running time of 107 minutes, this PG-13 movie distributed by Universal is a movie I’d recommend seeing on Date Night or with a bunch of friends. You will get your money and time’s worth in seeing this movie.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Maybe Nick Cage Knew he would be in first?

The Nicolas Cage studded film Knowing took the cake for this box office weekend as it breezes past the competition. Following very swiftly on its tail are two other films that opened this weekend. The second in the trio of new releases is the Tony Gilroy film Duplicity. Starring Julia Robers and Clive Owen, it follows along two spies who go through with a con against their former bosses while tackling away the old spark the two have for each other. The other in the mix was the John Hamburg directed flick, I Love You Man. Centering on Peter (Paul Rudd) who goes looking for a friend to fit the bill of best man for his wedding and finds a new friend in Sydney (Jason Segel), it places a strain on the relationship between him and his fiancee Zooey (Rashida Jones) that could possibly end in disaster.

Although I Love You Man has the same kind of comedic style that mirrors Apatow flicks, the marketing was far stronger for the action thriller Knowing. With the premise being on how John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) stumbles upon a paper that predicts the past catastrophes that have taken place and ones that will in future time, I’m sure the crowd that loves the strangely bizarre kind of scenarios flocked over towards the theatre (I have to admit it got me intrigued too). Duplicity seemed to get swept under the rug but with the trailer’s seeping of witty charm, it lured itself in a surprising amount of people to their screen (well it kind of surprised me).

Trailing onto other films, Disney’s Race To Witch Mountain still held on strong taking in a good $13 million. Watchmen continues to seep downward, only making $98 million total so far. The Warner Bros flick still has quite a few bucks to rake in to catch up to its budget ($150 million). Take a look below at the box office results for this weekend.

Weekend Box Office (March 20-22)

1. Knowing ($24.8 Million)
2. I Love You Man ($18 Million)
3. Duplicity ($14.4 Million)
4. Race To Witch Mountain ($13 Million)
5. Watchmen ($6.7 Million)
6. Last House On The Left ($5.9 Million)
7. Taken ($4.1 Million)
8. Slumdog Millionaire ($2.7 Million)
9. Madea Goes To Jail ($2.5 Million)
10. Coraline ($2.1 Million)

I Love You, Man

Judd Apatow is by all accounts the new Kevin Smith. For a time in the nineties, Smith had a stranglehold on the comedy world with Clerks, Chasing Amy and (to a lesser degree) Mallrats. His films may not have been high art, but it seemed like most comedies around that time tried to emulate Smith’s dialogue and crude humor. Apatow has now reached that status and I Love You, Man is the most prominent example of that yet. Outside of having Paul Rudd in the film, this movie is not associated with Judd or his compatriots.

The film opens with Peter Klaven (Rudd), a submissive, feminine relator proposing to his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) who agrees to marry him. So Zooey tells her friends Denise (Jamie Pressly)  and Hailey (Sarah Burns) while Peter can only celebrate with his gay brother Robbie (Andy Samburg) and his parents (Jane Curtain and the always delightful J. K. Simmons.) We see Peter has always had girls for friends and never had real guy friends. This poses a problem as Peter has to find a Best Man for his wedding. At an open house where Peter will sell Lou Ferrigno’s estate, Peter runs into Sydney Fife (Jason Segal) a metrosexual who is there just to have the food and who seems to connect very well with Peter. So the two hang out, a lot, and bond. It seems as if all of Peter’s troubles.

The prevalent problem with I Love You, Man stems from how nothing is really changed by the end of it nor does anything feel accomplished. That may have been the point, but in most good comedies these days the lead is usually changed and the main cast learned something about themselves. Here, everyone remains genuinely the same aside from Peter now having a friend. The filmmakers have opportunities to drive a point home and yet they don’t. Not to say that it would have been cheesy or anything, but it feels very empty once the final frame comes up.

It’s weird to think about and say, but I’ve attended a wedding where the best man was in fact a woman. In that instance I have to ask why couldn’t Peter find one of his gal pals to be there for him? If it was to be more traditional then fine, but the film never says that or even hints at that as a possibility. What also doesn’t help is that it takes way too long for Sydney and Peter to finally hook-up. Sure, there’s a series of funny dates but it feels as if an hour passes before these two actually meet. Then, ironically, the film speeds through everything else. As seems to be a staple of these flicks, Zooey and Peter break-up until to reconcile ten minutes later. Like much of the film, there’s no real build-up to that – or anything else that happens.

There are a ton of laughs to be had though, and that’s where the film succeeds. Paul Rudd seemed born to play the role of Peter who’s more feminine than his wife is. He’s a treat to watch as he tries to be masculine but comes off as awkward. Jason Segal is the complete opposite, but never feels as loud or obnoxious as essentially the Seth Rogen character. He’s more reserved than Rogen’s character but is still macho and portrays himself as ‘the man’. A nice little touch, though, is that Sydney comes off very metrosexual. When he discusses porking a nurse you wonder if he means male or female until we’re actually shown which team he plays for. It helped add a level of depth to what is an otherwise selfish character.

Rashida Jones is decent as Zooey, but is way too accepting of what happens between Syndey and Paul at first. She doesn’t question it, and just takes it like “oh yay, now I don’t have this schlub around when I’m with the girls.” Even when she should be mad about her husband spending too much time with his new friend, Jones just plays it as more of an opinion rather than concern. In fact, that sort of defeats the film’s purpose. So much time is spent trying to find Peter the perfect male friend and yet when he finally finds his mate, she gets upset. Wouldn’t be a problem except most of Zooey’s scenes consist of her with her friends, like she’s putting her friends over Peter.

The supporting characters range from ok to fun. The standouts are Jamie Pressly and Jon Faverau as a married couple that epitomizes two people who are in it just for the sex. Pressly’s Diane is the perfect stuck-up bitch who has no right to be and Faverau is the ultimate alpha male in Barry. Watching him blow up in front of his friends when Peter schools him in a game of poker is one of the best laugh’s the film has. Sarah Burns is serviceable as Hailey, but like her character she’s too bland. The standouts are the dates Peter has, notably Doug (Thomas Lennon) and Mel Stein (Murray Gershnez). Doug is full-on homosexual and lays one of the funniest ever on-screen male kisses on Peter. Mel is a foul-mouthed old man who’s looking for any sort of companionship he can find. Plus, when’s the last time we’ve had an eighty-plus year old man sprout the f-word left and right?

I Love You, Man does it’s job, but ultimately feels like a big missed opportunity. The leads have great chemistry and come off as two best buds, but the film doesn’t feel like it’s out to accomplish anything after the two get together. They could have easily ended the film right after Sydney and Peter hang out and it would have come across with the same effect. They only shoot for laughs, and they do get them but the story has no merit and could have just as easily not happened. It’s a success, but only on the scale that it’s audience will laugh. Otherwise, it’s not going to hold up in future years.

Rating: ★★½☆☆