‘Couples Retreat’ (2009) Review

Couples Retreat Synopsis: A comedy centered around four couples who settle into a tropical-island resort for a vacation. While one of the couples is there to work on the marriage, the others fail to realize that participation in the resort’s therapy sessions is not optional.

Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are struggling to conceive. The stress has put a strain on their marriage, and in a last-ditch effort to avoid divorce, they decide to travel to a couples retreat in the tropics designed to help married couples work through their problems.

The problem is that they can’t afford it alone, so they talk their friends into joining them to cut the cost. The other couples agree, clearly looking forward to a beach vacation with spas, jet skis, and delicious food. Unfortunately, when they arrive, they learn that marriage/couples therapy is mandatory, or they’ll be forced to leave the island.

Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis) are high school sweethearts who fight constantly and plan to divorce when their teenage daughter goes to college. Shane (Faizon Love) is recently divorced and dating a much younger woman named Trudy (Kali Hawk). Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman) are happily married with kids amid a home renovation but have their own issues that they’re actively avoiding.

I think Vaughn and Favreau are incredibly talented, but I’m not entirely sure what they were going for with this script. There is nothing original or imaginative about it, and Couples Retreat almost feels like a lazy, slapped-together production used to get a paid trip to Bora Bora, where the movie was filmed.

It features every “marriage” trope you could imagine, and I have to be honest; I wasn’t thrilled with any of the characters. It was tough to figure out why I was supposed to root for them all to stay together. In fact, there were a couple of times I was pretty sure it would be healthier if a few of these couples split up because I couldn’t understand the appeal of remaining married to one another. So many of the jokes fall flat, including the hunky, oiled-up yoga instructor Salvadore, who makes the men uncomfortable in his tiny speedo as he helps them shift their bodies into provocative poses. Sigh.

Despite enjoying the cast, I had a difficult time with Couples Retreat. It has some funny moments due to the cast’s comedic talent, but it’s hugely formulaic with an ending that was far too neat, given the trouble all of these relationships seemed to be in.

Am I supposed to believe that a week in the tropics with a few therapy sessions will somehow snap everyone back into marital bliss? Movies like these recycle gags and material constantly, and occasionally, they work with an adept script and sound director, but Couples Retreat is lacking both – and I love Peter Billingsley! I do. Given that it was shot in Bora Bora, it’s a beautiful-looking film, but that’s not enough to make it enjoyable or interesting.

I rated it slightly higher than I initially intended simply because I loved the cast. It’s a shame the script didn’t give them much to work with.

Watched: 05/04/2019
Notable Song: Me Love by Sean Kingston