Couples Retreat, the new rom-com from writers Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, is neither romantic nor comedic. For the most part it’s just plain mean. Watching scene after scene of husbands and wives yelling at each other gets tiresome. We get it, they have problems. Now on with the story already, please.
It’s too bad there’s not much of a story to tell though. There are four couples: Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis), Shane (Fazion Love) and Trudy (Kali Hawk), Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman), and Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell). Jason and Cynthia aren’t sure if they’re going to be able to make it in their marriage. Cynthia is having trouble conceiving and it’s putting a strain on the relationship. In order to try and save their marriage, Jason and Cynthia find a couples resort that they can go to, located in paradise. The one catch is that they get a group rate if they bring three other couples. Just like the hilarious coincidences from any random sitcom out there, it just so happens that Jason and Cynthia know three other couples. Wow, what are the odds?
So, they head off to Eden, a paradisaical wonderland. Crystal clear, shimmering blue water, lush green forests, and white sand beaches as far as the eye can see. Eden West houses the couples who are there to work on their relationships in an intensive couples building program. Eden East is home to the singles sex party. It’s all too obvious that at some point our group of miscreants will find their way over to Eden East, so who cares. The rest of the troupe acts like a bunch of children when they find out that instead of riding jet-skis and sleeping in, they’ll instead be participating in strenuous relationship building activities.
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