Universal Pictures | 2009 | Rated PG-13 | 107 minutes

With a talented writing team of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau not only penning the film, but also starring in it, one would expect COUPLES RETREAT to be pretty spot on in regard to comedy. The fact is though, it is not. COUPLES RETREAT is a continuation of the recent trend with comedies to load up a trailer with all of the funniest moments of the film to try and entice an audience in, only to deliver a movie without any substance behind it. Following the story of four different couples, Jason and Cynthia (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell), Dave and Ronnie (Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman), Joey and Lucy (Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis) and Shane and Trudy (Faizon Love and Kali Hawk), who all venture to an island paradise with the incredibly original name Eden, COUPLES RETREAT tries to show the comedy in the relationships between individuals who are all at different stages of their respective marriages. Jason and Cynthia believe that they logically need a divorce since they cannot conceive. Dave and Ronnie are happily married though are both always busy. Joey and Lucy are constantly looking for the next person to have an affair with. Middle-aged Shane is recently divorced and trying to impress the twenty-year-old Trudy. Arriving at Eden and expecting to be able to just relax and jet ski and hike around the island, they are surprised to learn that they all must attend “couples building” sessions with the famed “couples whisperer” Monsieur Marcel (Jean Reno), and all must ultimately make the decision if they truly belong with their partner.

While truly effective comedy must stem from conflict, and while the relationships between all of the individuals in the film could prove to be ripe for comedic situations, the fact is, COUPLES RETREAT feels forced most of the time. None of the characters seem truly believable and instead appear as simple caricatures of stereotypes that are only there to try and garner a laugh. Even outside of the marriage groups, the audience is supposed to believe this is a group of close friends, but they never come off that way. Much like the plot itself, the couples are all so drastically different from one another that they seem to be forced together solely for the comedic potential and not because any real bonds exist between them. Audiences though are expected to accept the fact that on a moment’s notice and with no planning, these couples can drop everything in their lives and head off to Eden to take part in something that will supposedly help the marriage of an acquaintance whom no one really even seems to like.

These implausible situations are numerous throughout the plot of the film, and director Peter Billingsley (A CHRISTMAS STORY) never challenges his actors to do anything that is not on the page. The film instead is broken into the various vignettes that the trailer already shows. There’s the shark scene. There’s the scene where Favreau propositions his female masseuse. There’s the requisite “Guitar Hero” battle scene that drags on forever to an outmoded Billy Squier song. There is the yoga scene. Watching the trailer again, one can easily piece together the entire film, and in the process save their time and money. This is due to the fact that while each of these scenes may be funny on their own, they are in no way blended together to create a cohesive whole. Each stereotype of a character is simply dropped down into the middle of the scene and it is left at that.

There does exist a character arc for each of the principal cast, but in congruency with the structured plot of the film, each of these character arcs lacks any genuineness and this is the greatest downfall of COUPLES RETREAT. The entire end of the second act and transition into the third is beyond contrived and contains a deus ex machina moment that borderlines on farcical. True, this is a comedy and one shouldn’t expect it to deal with actual marital issues, but even when a writer is creating humor, the plot still needs to be true to itself as well as to the constituent elements that comprise it. The screenplay needs to allow the characters and the situation they are in dictate the action instead of having a filmmaker or writer force it upon them. Doing so completely undermines any of the credibility of the story and makes for a much duller picture.

COUPLES RETREAT does have some funny moments in it, but unfortunately none that were seen outside of the trailer. The assembled cast is exceptionally talented, but in this film, and especially in regard to Jean Reno, their talents are wasted. While it is true the Favreau and Vaughn tried to instill a heart about the importance of the bond of marriage within their film, in the end, COUPLES RETREAT never is elevated to anything more than just a formulaic piece filled with numerous plot holes, incongruities and contrivances and this in turn never allows the film’s humor to truly develop.

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