Thérapie de couples

I guess I went into it without a whole lot of expectation. I didn't expect to be knocked off my feet by anything meaningful or insightful. I just watched it with my wife, expected it to put a smile on my face. Which it did fine.

Having enjoyed Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in Swingers, I thought that this had a pretty decent chance of being a funny movie.

No dice. This film tries to be a zany comedy and a touching drama at the same time, and fails at both. It starts out well, but somewhere about 20 minutes in, seems to lose its way and it never comes back.

I have seen worse movies, and there are a few funny moments. But by halfway in, I was hoping it would end soon because it was just boring.

The best thing I can say is that this movie will have you wanting to visit Bora Bora because of all the beautiful scenery. Other than that.. meh.

I watched this for free On Demand and still felt ripped off. Where do I start? The tone is so uneven that the scenes with the therapists are played straight despite the fact that two of them were played by John Michael Higgins and Ken Jeong, two guys who must struggle NOT to get laughs. It is almost as if they hired the actors and then decided to go a different direction -- if they even put that much thought into it. Before this debacle finally and mercifully staggers to an end it starts to feel as if they are literally making it up as they go along. There is no clear reason for this movie to even exist except as an excuse for the cast and crew to enjoy an nice tropical vacation, squeezing in a little movie work while they are there. Lazy, unprofessional filmmaking that is an insult to the audience.

Went by myself. Ironic, neh? It wasn't Wedding Crashers or Dodgeball, but a mildly funny, watchable movie nonetheless. Don't go expecting Shakespeare.

Its take on modern romance is mostly positive: people have good and bad parts of them, but we can all learn to love our spouses better. Though the actors did fairly well with the material, the jokes needed more polish. A few of the best performances were from the couples' counselors and other members of the resort staff, including my favorite, "Chewbacca." The most ludicrous moment for me was the gifting of the animal spirits by Jean Reno. They were all rather unfunny until Vince Vaughan received his. He made a comment to his wife before he kisses her that was typical classic Vince.

However, the movie is a bit too lagging between its laughs to really be a great comedy, and lacked a true heart of pathos for you to really connect with any of the characters. It ends up a caricature of the couples getaway industry and our modern society.

In the film, one of the wives jumps out of her canoe to get away from her annoying husband. Ticked off, she swims to shore alone. Perhaps some fans might be tempted to do the same, and bail out of the movie.

This could easily have been a better movie. Better writing. Better cinematography. Better delivery by the cast. But as it was, I'd say it was marginally worth a matinée and the price of popcorn.

Scale of 1 to 10: 5.

It's not going to win an Oscar, but it's not an awful movie. I think the people who enjoy this can probably relate to a character which leads me to think it's the slightly more mature audience. Those who rated it low probably enjoy crap like Gods of Egypt. Enough said. Sit back, relax, and don't take it too seriously. Enjoy the gorgeous views of Bora Bora