'Four Christmases' review

Vince Vaughn (Credit: John P. Johnson/ Warner Bros.)

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When their flight from San Francisco to Fiji is postponed a day, unmarried couple Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are forced to visit each of their divorced parents to celebrate Christmas four times in one day. This results in plenty of uncomfortable, "Meet the Parents"-esque situations involving Brad's ultimate fighter brothers (Jon Favreau, Tim McGraw), hardass dad (Robert Duvall) and sexually frisky mom (Sissy Spacek), plus Kate's nosy sister (Kristin Chenoweth), newly religious mom (Mary Steenburgen) and supportive father (Jon Voight).

The buzz: Let the hilarity ensue! Or just let us hope "Four Christmases" is better than Vaughn's last stocking stuffer, "Fred Claus."

The verdict: "Four Christmases" needs approximately two Christmases to make you feel completely exhausted, with lots of energy spent watching desperate physical comedy and supporting characters forced to turn their personalities up to 11. Vaughn's motor-mouth routine lands a few winners, but the movie's all shtick all the time and doesn't give its leads enough room to showcase their chemistry or explore their relationship. So many holiday movies aim to show how grueling family celebrations can be, but that's no reason the movies themselves have to be such a chore.

Did you know? Brad reminds us that you can't spell families without "lies." Please think long and hard before bringing this up at a holiday dinner.

Video: Watch the review of 'Four Christmases'

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