Four Christmases – Movie

Well, if Christmas is not a holiday for the family, then what is it? Pretty dismal, says “Four Christmases” and so is the movie, a futile effort at designing family dysfunction as a normal part of our complex society. It’s saturated with slapped together, bumped-up inanities guaranteed to change cheers to jeers.

If comedy doesn’t have a life of its own, it’s not comedy. It’s a silly stack of cards that can’t rise from the first level, just asking to collapse. In particular, this movie is a struggling construction of unformed, allegedly funny concepts which turn Christmas spirit into a perversity.

Making matters worse is when its writers appear to be fascinated by artlessly dark humor. Vince Vaughn is thoroughly miscast and Reese Witherspoon must have had something else in mind when she accepted this role. Chemistry together? They don’t share a single vibe or semblance of relating.

“Flight Cancelled, Flight Cancelled . . . ” There’s an unintended family confrontation coming up for unmarried — and plainly mismatched — upscale Kate and Brad of San Francisico. And it’s due directly to the fogged-out jetliners on this Christmas morning. What a blow. They’d really had fabulous, exotic plans for a long-awaited vacation in Fiji. Oh, did they ever want and need this particular time away.

And now what’s the alternative? Oh, no! Oh, no! Precisely, but precisely, the event that they’d put all their life’s energy into avoiding. Trapped hopelessly! With no vacation as their excuse and now being seen on the TV news as woefully disappointed, all viewed by their families, uh oh, . . . they’ll have to go join these rather eccentric relatives in holiday-infested festivities. This will include the four households of their divorced parents. Oh, the pain!

These obnoxious relatives will give us a sound understanding of why Kate and Brad have avoided marriage and kids like the plague. With both sets of parents having been divorced, there’s your four families. They include Brad’s ornery redneck dad (Robert Duvall), burly brothers who are cage wrestlers, visiting wealthy hippie mom (Sissy Spacek), and her boy friend who’s one of Brad’s old pals. Then there are Kate’s mom (Mary Steenburgen), her dad (Jon Voight) and mom’s other male interest, a Bible-thumpin’ preacher man.

And now Brad and Kate get recruited into playing Joseph and Mary in the pageant.

Thing is, a real lot of family dirty wash is about to be hung out from their teenage years and Kate has just about had it.

Vince Vaughn is in over his head in a role the asks honesty of emotions and sincerity in motivation. This is a holiday misfire of the first magnitude It is overloaded with contrived relationships whose very substance is set up artificially for disaster.

A clear alternative to holiday joy, it’s a Christmas gift to you that should stay unwrapped.

“Four Christmases” (quality rating: 4 out of 10)
Director: Seth Gordon
Screenplay: Matt Allen, Caleb Wilson, Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Sissy Spacek, Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen
Time: 1 hr., 20 min.
Rating: PG-13 (some sexual language and humor)