Film: Couples Retreat
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Faizon Love, Kristen Davis, Malin Akerman
Director: Peter Billingsley
Rating: * *
A generic comedy, Couples Retreat tells the story about four Midwestern couples who embark on a journey of marital rejuvenation in the Eden resort, on Bora Bora, a truly enchanted place run by Monsieur Marcel (Jean Reno), a martial-arts mystic, and managed by Cstanley (Peter Serafinowicz).
The entire trip has been planned by Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) who seem to be on the verge of a break-up.
The other three couples believe they are reasonably happy and debunk the need for this kind of an extravagance but tag along just so that they can be on the same page as Jason and Cynthia.
Written by Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Dana Fox the film is intended as a comedy. There is not much to laugh about though. All the characters appear uni-dimensional, all card-board cut-outs rather than the real thing.
The troubles that the couples have with each other also appears too superficial and their resolutions have more to do with puerile formulas than any solid rejuvenation tips.
The script is lacklustre, hopelessly predictable and uninteresting save for the few laugh-inducing one-liners sparsely scattered around for itsy-bitsy entertainment.
Rahman’s much publicised background score is also quite pedestrian. But for the scenic cinematography and the few one liners this would have been a total washout!
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