For all of its snarky holiday/family bashing, Four Christmases wimps out in the third act and reaffirms all the traditional values it affects to mock.
Comment
03/02/09
Four Christmases (2008)
24 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 135
Fresh: 33
Rotten:102
Average Rating: 4.3/10
Consensus: Despite a strong cast, this sour holiday comedy suffers from a hackneyed script.
Theatrical Release:Nov 26, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $120,136,047
Synopsis: Documentarian Seth Gordon (THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS) makes his feature film directorial debut with FOUR CHRISTMASES. Kate (Reese Witherspoon) and Brad (Vince Vaughn) are a happily... [More]
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau
Director: Seth Gordon
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Reviews for Four Christmases
Maybe catch one of the other hundred holiday films to be offered over the next few weeks and wait for Four Christmases to come to your local Red Box.
01/04/09
Grows tired long before the end credits start rolling at the 80-minute mark.
12/27/08
There is no spark to the humor, there is no warmth to the drama. There is a tired plot that whips the essence of every Christmas movie ever made into a dreary slog
12/24/08
Feels like they wanted to make 5 different holiday movies and couldn't decide which plot line was best, so they rolled them all together, glossing over everything.
12/17/08
Projectile baby vomiting is a recurring gag. I cried mistletoe well before the film was halfway through.
12/12/08
Feels both too cluttered and too safe.
12/09/08
This is marginally better than most, with a few offbeat comic ideas, a reliably droll performance from Vaughn, and, as the parents, four watchable old troupers in search of a fat paycheck.
12/09/08
Top CriticYou can see most of the big slapstick set-pieces looming long before they hit but there are a few smaller routines that pack a punch just because they have an unexpectedly manic tilt to them.
12/08/08
An embarassment for all involved.
12/06/08
Four Christmases boasts one of the most impressive casts ever assembled to make a movie that is, at best, only mildly amusing.
12/06/08
A good start to the holiday season.
12/05/08
Filled with 'hilarious' scenes of people being vomited on and falling off roofs, Four Holidays tries to meld nasty, black-hued comedy with warm sentiment, resulting in a sick melange of treacle and malice.
12/04/08
An imperfect storm of horrible writing, awkward casting and questionable taste gathers soon after the opening credits and dumps downpours of buzz-killing humour at depressingly regular intervals.
12/04/08
There are worse holiday-related ways to spend your time than Four Christmases, I suppose. Making a three-hour drive to grandmother's house in pea-soup fog, for one.
12/03/08
Four Christmases is the kind of film that you should only watch if you’re trapped on an airline and can’t fall asleep, the kind of holiday film that makes Jingle All the Way look like a cinematic tour de force.
12/03/08
So monstrously awful that it will probably make a fortune, spawn sequels and cause a mania for gags involving projectile-vomiting babies.
12/02/08
Witherspoon and Vaughn play two characters who are totally unlikeable, and the movie as a whole is too.
12/02/08
Gordon's stars are charmless, his script cheerless, and his sterling supporting cast can't seem to figure out what they've been brought on board to do.
12/02/08
Top CriticDidn’t quite get over the hump.
12/02/08
Latest News for Four Christmases
November 30, 2008:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Four Christmases has a lot to be thankful for this weekend
Four Christmases had a sensational Thanksgiving weekend in the number one spot. Bolt picked up the pace while the sun started to set on Twilight. More...
November 28, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Local Critics Warm To Changeling; De Niro Delights But What Just Happened Doesn't
It's Friday, there's a new raft of movies in the UK cinemas this week, but are any of them any good? This week the UK film hacks give us their opinions on Clint Eastwood's... More...
November 26, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Vince & Reese Offer Holiday Cheer
The Thanksgiving holiday weekend sees a wide variety of films in the multiplexes giving all kinds of moviegoers something to see over the extended five-day session. Leading the... More...
November 25, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Four Christmases Gets Coal
This week at the movies, we've got yuletide yucks (Four Christmases, starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon), an epic from Down Under (Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and... More...
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