Four Christmases

"I shall swaddle this baby"

I have to admit I wasn't epecting much from this film. Yes Vince Vaughn is funny and sure Reese Witherspoon is a great actress but as of late christmas family films have been a bit hit and miss. We had just bought our unlimited cinema passes and were eager to use them and this film was on at the time so in we skipped.

Brad and Kate realise how little they know about each other

What followed was a really enjoyable hour and a half or so of great comedy, suprisingly well created main and supporting characters and a really heart felt story of sacrific and relationships. Its not perfect by any stretch but it was definatly worth the admission.

We start of with a very relaxed and seemingly perfect couple as they avoid their families to whizz of to Fuji for christmas. One of the best intros to a comedy film I've seen in a while lets us meet our main characters Brad and Kate mixing brilliant character developement with a sharp and witty script that carries on throughout.

The classic baby sick joke made funnier by Vinces fantastic reaction!

The film starts to excel when we not only meet 4 fantastically dysfunctional families (one of which sees Brads best friend sleeping with his 50 year old mother) but start to realise that they both want different things from the relationship. These lessons come from the very families that we spend so long laughing at. Its wonderfully put together and I really felt with every unfortunate meeting the two characters were really learning some important things about each other and themselves.

I would say it was a little too long. I felt by the end i had already learnt the lesson and finished the journey 15 minutes before. The film makers however saw fit to wrap it up with a slightly implausible happy ending that needed in itself probably a half hour extra to really justify but did in only 5 minutes.

Overall this is a really great christmas film for anyone over 13 with some great slapstick and even better quick witted jokes as well as some really disgusting ones that have you laughing hard and saying "eeeeeeeeeeeeww" at the same time. Its definatly worth a watch and is a welcome break from heavy dramas and men in spandex saving the world. Go see it if you have a couple of hours to kill.

My verdict

3 stars

Check out the trailer