Review of Couples Retreat

Movie #50 - Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat is a film that follows four couples on a vacation to paradise. That paradise soon takes a turn for the worst when they are forced to take couple's relationship building classes. Each couple quickly finds out that their relationship has more problems than they thought. Instead of taking a fun tropical vacation, they are thrown into chaos which drives them further apart. One night, one of the women takes off for the other end of the island. The other friends head off in search of the missing member. The separation of the women and men makes them realize how much they truly love and need each other. The separation AND the fact that the other side of the island is for singles, and when they run into the singles they realize how ridiculous it would be to give up on their spouse. The single life is exhausting, and the couples decide that it is less exhausting to work on bettering their marriage than jumping back into the single scene. On the final night of their vacation, they all wake up happy. The trip has worked a miracle on all of them.

This movie has the whole package. A great cast: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Jason Bateman, and Kristen Bell; Funny events and dialogue; and a heartwarming message. I love that each of the couples realizes the issues that they have in their relationship, and instead of permanently turning their back on the issues, they work through them - becoming a stronger couple in the process. Every time I watch this movie, I really want to spend a week in Eden. Heck, I'll even take the couples building courses. I looked up the resort at which they filmed this movie, and it's called the St. Regis Bora Bora. For ONE villa, it costs anywhere from $120,00-400,000! Holy crap! That is ridiculous. So, way to ruin my dream of one day spending some quality time with my husband at a resort like that. Ugh.

Even though this movie does have everything you would want in a comedy, there are some problems I have with it. 1) Vince Vaughn's character. Why does he always have to play the bad guy in a relationship? I think they should try something new with him for once, and have him be the good guy. The one that girl's watch and think, "I want a guy like that." I feel bad that he's getting typecast as the jerk in movies. 2) Jason Bateman's character is unbelievably annoying. I know that's not Bateman's fault, but that doesn't change the fact that he's annoying. There's no way that I would all of a sudden fall back in love with my husband overnight if he acted like Jason. His character is over the top, and it's not believable that anyone could stand that. 3) Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis's characters bug me the entire time. Why they're not up for divorce is beyond me. They're both hitting on the opposite sex constantly, and they seem to have no feelings for each other at all. And then BOOM, when they see hotter, younger people hitting on one another, they get super jealous and make up. There are just several characters that rub me the wrong way, so sometimes it's not enjoyable to watch. The couples make me uncomfortable. I can say one thing though, this movie makes me cherish the relationship I have with my husband.


Overall, I give Couples Retreat 3.5 out of 5 stars.