Couples Retreat

"You got a pose called yoga guy gets his ass kicked? Cause that's my favorite one."

Three married couples and a recently divorced friend, with his new girlfriend, go to beautiful, four star resort in Tahiti for intensive couples therapy.  Jason (Bateman) and Cynthia (Bell) organize the trip to see if they want to stay married or if they wasted the last 7 years.  They have been trying to have a baby... but all their planning and powerpoint presentations can't solve the problem.  Joey (Favreau) and Lucy (Davis) got pregnant during high school and married right away.  They can't stand each other and are counting the days until their daughter goes to college so they can officially split up.  Dave (Vaughn) and Ronnie (Akerman) don't have time for each other and barely spend any time together while juggling work, remodeling, and their two sons.  Shane (Love) is trying to move on from his disastrous divorce, and recently starting seeing Trudy (Smith), who is 20 and loud.

They came for fun in the sun, but the Eden East Resort has other ideas.  There is an early wake-up, awkward counseling sessions, and other obstacles to happiness.  Will they ever meet owner Marcel's (Jean Reno) standards and find a way to the other side of the island, Eden West, with the singles and their fun parties?


I was hopeful that this film would be good.  There was so much potential... a great cast, an interesting premise, gorgeous locale.  But somehow the film feels uneven.  There were funny moments and quotes, but overall the plot felt weak.  So I was underwhelmed.

BUT, based on the trailer, it was better than I expected.  Overall I enjoyed it (especially in comparison to "Four Christmases" also starring Vince Vaughn... which was so disappointing), but it wasn't great.  There were unnecessary scenes that were disgusting and could easily be removed... and there were scenes that could be expanded.  Not horrible, but definitely not noteworthy.  Come on Vaughn and Favreau, I expect more from both of you!

Couples Retreat (2009) 113 minutes
Rating: PG-13 on appeal for sexual content and language
Director: Peter Bilingsley
Starring: Vince Vaughn as Dave
Jason Bateman as Jason
Jon Favreau as Joey
Faizon Love as Shane
Malin Akerman as Ronnie
Kristen Bell as Cynthia
Kristin Davis as Lucy
Tasha Smith as Trudy