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COUPLES RETREAT (Rated PG-13)
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, actors Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau collaborated as writers on the hit film “Swingers” to deliver snappy, comedic dialogue that cemented their reputations for delivering laughs. The fame achieved by that success has served them well, though Vaughn has been more visible in the public eye since then.
Nevertheless, these two old friends have returned to try to work their magic formula for a relationship movie involving couples on the cusp of middle age. The aptly-named “Couples Retreat” is the fruit of this renewed teamwork.
Vaughn and Favreau, assisted by Dana Fox, have pieced together a script that delivers, at the minimum, a serviceable comedy, one that is likely to do well in the future on late night cable viewing.
Working off the template of randy sex comedies, “Couples Retreat” strives with the help of its talented writer-stars to come up with comical situations and barbed one-liners that deliver the normal expectations.
For good measure, Vaughn and Favreau mix in some drama just to keep afloat the relationship conflicts inherent in a story where couples are expected to bicker, if only to satisfy conventional plot lines.
The story of “Couples Retreat” begins with the obsessive Jason (Jason Bateman) and his frustrated wife Cynthia (Kristen Bell) scheming to get their friends to join them in a package deal for an island paradise vacation.
Unbeknownst to the others, Jason and Cynthia, though outwardly contented, are seriously thinking of divorce because they remain childless. Going off to a resort in French Polynesia looks terribly inviting, but the troubled couple can’t afford to go alone, nor can they tell their friends the real reason for the trip, which is namely to take advantage of the “Couples Skill Building” workshops.
Vaughn’s Dave is happily married to Ronnie (Malin Akerman), with two adorable sons, the youngest of which has potty issues with toilets on the showroom floor of a local department store. Meanwhile, Favreau’s Joey and his wife Lucy (Kristin Davis) find their marriage on the brink of dissolution once their daughter goes off to college.
Recently divorced Shane (Faizon Love) is hooked up with 20-year-old Trudy (Kali Hawk) in a romance that seems unlikely to survive for another two weeks. Given that these friends are enduring a cold winter in the Midwest, a trip to the sun and fun of the Eden resort proves irresistible.
Arriving at the beautiful Eden resort, the couples soon discover that the seaside paradise is anything but the hedonistic playground they had expected. Instead, they are confronted with a daily regimen that makes an Army boot camp look like a trip to Disneyland.
Running the resort with an iron fist is an imperious Frenchman named Marcel (Jean Reno), who insists that everyone must participate in a series of grueling programs, particularly early morning counseling sessions with therapists who seem incapable of doing anything other than creating relationship schisms.
Meanwhile, Joey and Dave are increasingly restless after dealing with Marcel and the pompous henchman who is always insisting that everything is for their own good. Joey, in particular, is itching to get to the other island, which is called Eden West, a sybaritic pleasure zone for swinging singles.
The urge to move to the fun island is even more compelling after the guys are exposed to slimy yoga instructor Salvadore (Carlos Ponce), looking very much like an oiled and muscled Fabio. One of the funniest, if crude, scenes involves Salvadore, dressed only in very brief shorts, pacing the women through some very eccentric, sexualized moves.
Except for the brazen Trudy, who is eager to break free of the stodgy routine, the wives are trapped with little to do other than spar with their husbands in therapy sessions. On the other hand, the guys pretty much live up to their predictable screen personas.
Vaughn and Favreau do their best to be humorously obnoxious, hurling insults and wisecracks in scattershot fashion. Bateman plays his usual uptight role to varying comic effect, while Love, possessed of considerable girth and size, is the object of physical comedy.
“Couples Retreat” may not be a candidate for the best comedy of the year, but it has enough laughs to entertain viewers who have enjoyed these actors in even better comedies.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
Sometimes I wonder why films with a holiday theme are released outside the expected time period. With the economy in the dumps, maybe it makes sense to start Christmas shopping early.
The DVD release of “Little Spirit: Christmas in New York,” an animated story that features music by Faith Hill and Duncan Sheik, may be just thing to buy now and hold for holiday gift giving.
“Little Spirit” tells the story of a young boy who embarks on the holiday journey of a lifetime in the city that never sleeps.
Moving to a new house in a new city is never easy, but when the boy’s dog is accidentally lost in Central Park, he’s determined to find his furry friend in time for Christmas.
Feeling lost and alone, a magical spirit takes the boy on an incredible adventure, learning the true meaning of Christmas along the way.
“Little Spirit” will entertain both kids and their parents.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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“An Echo in the Bone” by Diana Gabaldon
Delacorte Press. Sept. 22, 2009. 832 pp. $30, ISBN 0-38-534245-4
“The good old days.” How we yearn for “the good old days.” When exactly were they, can you tell me? Can any generation of men and women ever fully appreciate how hard it was for the generation, or generations, before?
I am convinced that none can, and yet Diana Gabaldon has done it in her passionately popular Outlander series.
The series ranges in time from the 18th century Jacobite Risings in Scotland to the almost modern 1980s. To the delight of Gabaldon fans around the world, the long-awaited seventh book in the series, “An Echo in the Bone,” released Sept. 22.
Set during the American Revolution “Echo” is historical “fiction” but includes enough fact that it can teach us something about who we are as a nation.
The characters and real life heroes (and villains) of the American Revolution were not mere folk tales but flesh-and-blood men and women who were shaped by their parents and the wars of their parents. They struggled with their identity as patriots and rebels and Gabaldon brings them, and their story – our history – to breathtaking life.
“Echo” is religious “fiction” but includes fact enough to give us insight into the traditions of today’s America. Are we a Christian nation? How did we come to be? Are we truly a melting pot or has intolerance always been the ugly underside of American history, a bequest from those who came before?
In “Echo” the religious diversity and all the struggles that come with learning to live with, and love, people of other traditions is brought factually to mind in a way that only fiction can do.
“Echo” is science “fiction”, but reveals our bias to what is known. The heroine Claire Fraser is a physician from WWII ripped from her time into one long ago. The medical knowledge she brings is more often than not seen as witchcraft but she is compelled by compassion to bring healing where she can though it frequently puts her life in danger (not to mention our willing suspension of disbelief). Where are we afraid to bring healing because of how we might be judged?
The book also is a romance. I began this review by saying that Gabaldon has done what cannot be done – she has identified exactly when the good old days were and how they can be again. They are the days when we are with those we love.
“An Echo in the Bone” is the continuing love story of Claire and Jaime Fraser. The good old days are the days they spend together laughing, making love, building their lives and our history. “Echo” is 800-plus pages that shout to us “LOVE!”
If “Echo” were being rated for the movies it would likely be “NC-17” for sexually explicit content. Books have no such rating standard, but as a romance novel told with wit, historical accuracy and for provoking thought – this reviewer gives it an “A.”
Geri Williams is a local book fancier.
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