Resulting from a Fiji flight cancellation, Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are forced to act out a Christmas tradition: visiting their families. Although Brad and Kate have been dating for three years (and are currently living together), neither one of them has met the other’s parents. And for good reason.
Including Brad’s mishap with a satellite dish, Kate’s upsetting several babies and even an overly evangelical performance of the nativity, the four-stop tour to each of their divorced parents’ houses is exaggerated to say the least.
In typical fashion, the parents are eager to share baby and childhood pictures with their child’s significant other. This causes some complications for Brad and Kate when they each discover that neither one of them has been completely honest about their childhoods. Some of the epiphanies are more or less embarrassing than others, but ultimately the arguments drive away Brad and Kate’s perfectly pre-rehearsed happiness of the beginning of the movie.
There is little chemistry between Vaughn and Witherspoon. This may have been intentional, to show the deterioration of their relationship. Nonetheless, Vaughn is guilty of his trademark outbursts of hilarity. Vaughn is the master of unknowing misunderstanding and resulting miscommunication. As in “The Break Up,” his and his cohabitating co-star’s connection breaks down in the face of his never-ending, albeit hilarious, soliloquies.
Witherspoon plays a fairly comedic role as well, although Vaughn overshadows her (literally). Kate does, however, offer most of the substance of the movie, ruing past Christmases spent away from family and contemplating the future of Brad’s and her relationship.
The all-star cast holds the film together. Brad’s parents are played by Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek, while Kate’s parents are played by Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen. In a way, both fathers and both mothers play the same role. The mothers are very welcoming to their child’s better half, while also being overtly sexually open and thus entertaining for audiences. The fathers, on the other hand, offer the most advice and life lessons, causing Brad and Kate to realize the importance of family.
The siblings are also worthy of mention. Brad’s brothers, played by Tim McGraw and Jon Favreau, execute their cage fighting routine on Brad when he arrives to exchange gifts. Kate’s sister, Kristin Chenoweth, brings out Kate’s motherly tendencies while simultaneously embarrassing her with sisterly teasing. In his role as Pastor Phil, Dwight Yoakam, Kate’s mother’s boyfriend, is undoubtedly an amusement.
The couple’s four Christmases are a lesson in the reality and difficulty of relationships. However, with a year-later scene tacked on the end, the viewer questions how much Brad and Kate actually learned from their previous holiday.
Three of five stars.
