Ed's Review Dot Com

Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Robert Duvall, Kristin Chenoweth, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Sissy Spacek, Brian Baumgartner, Carol Kane, Tim McGraw

Kate (Reese Witherspoon) and Brad (Vince Vaughh) have been shacking up for 3 years. They both love the simple lifestyle where they can pick up and go anywhere anytime. There’s no plans for children or settling down. Every Christmas they lie about doing charity work somewhere while they travel to Fiji or Bali on vacation to avoid the family chaos at Christmas. This year, they have made their apologies to the families, but fog in the bay area cancelled their flight, and they ended up on a TV news broadcast so the family knew they were not traveling. That means Four separate Christmas visits to 4 separate families (both parents are divorced). These families are all a huge mess, and the day ends up just about destroying their 3 year relationship with the comedy of screw ups occur one after another.

This is a really funny film. The deadpan Vince Vaughn guy matched against Reese Witherspoon’s helpless Lucille Ball like comedy makes them a perfect couple. Then with the all stars that play the family with the likes of Sissy Spacekl, Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Kristin Chenowith, et. al. makes for a hysterical day. But in the end we get to see the tender moments when the unhappy couple have to determine whether their lives are going anywhere or not. There is a lot of verbal company. Everyone is a character, that’s for sure. There’s also a lot of slapstick (Vince vaughn falling off the roof in slow motion and destroying the house!) as well. But it also has a tender side. All in all, it’s a very funny film, and an excellent look at a disastrous Christmas. I enjoyed it when it came out, and enjoyed it just as much in a re-watch on TBS this season. I highly recommend it as a funny Christmas family adventure!