As you probably know by now, I don’t watch a lot of romantic comedies. I decided to check out Couples Retreat only because of its setting, the beautiful and exotic island of Bora Bora. Plus, I was looking for something upbeat to get high. The end result was rather surprising. The movie turned out to be quite refreshing and well-written. Vaughn, Favreau, and Fox drew from their own experiences and made the script feel authentic. However, this is definitely not on the same level as Swingers. So, temper your expectations and you will enjoy this movie.
It’s visually alluring with stunning beaches, an exotic atmosphere, and a lot of sexy guys and girls in revealing swimsuits. Couples Retreat is one of those mainstream comedies primarily aimed at, well, couples. Every relationship has its problems and you might recognize some of them in this movie. Who knows, maybe it will even help get over them. The characters are diverse and have all sorts of problems so the movie is casting a pretty wide net.
I was surprisingly able to not hate too much the fact that these people can actually afford such a retreat. Most of us can only dream about visiting such a place. Or see it in a movie like this one. At least the characters react in the same way we would upon seeing such splendor. I don’t think we need to spend a lot of time talking about the cast. A lot of seasoned actors did a solid job although I would like to single out Kristen Bell and Faizon Love.
After one of the four couples suggested to the others a trip to a beautiful island in a resort called Eden, they all reluctantly accept it, hoping to spend a great time on the sea just having fun. But as you can predict, their vacation will turn into something else…
This is not the first romantic comedy to be set on an exotic island. Forgetting Sarah Marshall and 50 First Dates came out a couple of years before Couples Retreat. Although what I would love to see is a sequel to Along Came Polly starring Hank Azaria as Claude, the scuba diving instructor. Anyone for scubaaa? We basically have the same character here, a sexy yoga instructor Salvadore. I just have to mention to steer clear of The Love Guru, an abysmal movie about a self-help guy ruining the lives of other people.
And while I know they had to make a PG-13 movie, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if they just went for it. Added nudity, raunchy jokes, and a lot of slapstick. Now, that would be my type of romantic comedy. Still, Couples Retreat is an acceptable and mildly entertaining movie that serves as a nice distraction. Especially on a date night.
Director: Peter Billingsley
Writers: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Dana Fox
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Jean Reno, Malin Akerman
Fun Stuff: At the resort St. Regis in Bora Bora, where this movie was filmed, it plays on a loop 24/7 on all of their tvs.
Rating:
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1078940/
