Follow me on Twitter After watching Mr. Vince Vaughn create a stupid family-friendly christmas film, Fred Claus (2007), I was happy to see him return to his smooth-talking self: Couples Retreat (2009) is a cute, RomCom co-written, produced, and starring, not only Vince and his real life best friend Jon Favreau. The film is also with Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis (Charlotte from Sex and the City), Jason Batemen, and a token black couple (Faizon Love and Kali Hawk). O yeah, it also had that cute, lifeless girl from Ben Stiller’s the Heartbreak Kid, Malin Akerman- no one remembers her name, but they all remember the face that never makes an expression. ( the sister in 28 dresses [for the chicks] and the girl in Watchmen [for the dudes])
Couples Retreat is about a couple that is getting divorced and wants to go for a week retreat to make sure that they’re really out of love, but they drag all their friends along. They fly together and start learning more about their relationships and all fall deeper in love. Aw, isn’t that cute. The most entertaining character in the whole film is the little boy in the beginning and the end, played by Colin Baiocchi. Other than him I giggled a few times, more so when the “yoga instructor” (Carlos Ponce- Encouragement!) was in the scene, but thats about it.
You cannot forget the great, French, Jean Reno as Marcel. Lets talk about about the very french, Jean Reno, for a minute- my first interaction with this man was in Leon: The Professional (1994). Not to say that I’ve ever met him, just that was the first film of his that I saw and I instantly fell in love. According to IMDb (god, in my book) Mr Reno has been in french films since 1979 and every once in a while appears in a Hollywood movie; usually playing a french cop, inspector, detective, or whatnot. Most recently he’s been seen in Steve Martin’s versions of The Pink Panther (2006) and its sequel in 2009. In my eyes he will always be the milk-drinking hit-man, Leon, who takes in Natalie Portman.
Returning back to the “plot” of Couples Retreat: Why are RomComs so obvious? Why cant they be surprising? We get it, there’s love something messes it up and they get back together- woo! Remember My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)? She ended up alone and not breaking up the wedding- thats an ending that no one saw coming. Brilliance!
I cannot even think of another RomCom that ends with such a twist… Vince Vaughn- you’re a funny guy, please take the cute kid, Jean Reno and make a Romantic film that doesn’t follow the usual formula.
