JIM reviews film “COUPLES RETREAT” – You should move at Full Speed AHEAD with them to “PROBLEM Island”! Rating: 8 of 10 stars

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“COUPLES RETREAT” – You should move at Full Speed AHEAD with them to “PROBLEM Island”!

Rating: 8 of 10 stars (based on an advance screening). =

In essence, this is a “BUDDY” film. Yes, it’s somewhat “silly”— but it’s often very FUNNY, well-acted & it “WORKS” because the cast plays “off” each other so effectively, it’s “believable”: In the Chicago area, Jason (JASON BATEMAN) is an overly-organized person, as is his wife Cindy (KRISTEN BELL). They eagerly prepare a Powerpoint presentation to get their friends to join them in the couples “THERAPY” they feel they especially need at a Bora-Bora (Tahitian) resort called “Eden West”.

The ‘leader’ of the group of friends is happily-married video-game-seller David (VINCE VAUGHN) & his house-decorating wife Ronni (MALIN ACKERMAN), whose precocious kids urge them to go on the vacation. Joseph (JON FAVREAU) & his wife Lucy (KRISTIN DAVIS) are secretly contemplating a DIVORCE & single lives due to their inherent unhappiness. A corpulent friend (FAIZON LOVE) was recently unhappily divorced & has taken up with a flighty party-loving much-younger woman Jennifer (KALI HAWK).

Little did the group know (before they arrived in Eden) that there are MANDATORY activities, which leave them worn-out (from the “therapy” by JOHN MICHAEL HIGGINS & others), upset, shocked (partly at the sexy yoga instructor) & “shark-bait”. Some prefer going to the “East” side of Eden where the singles and “action” are (along with the “abandoned Starbucks”).

Will the couples learn anything helpful? Will any real progress be made in the various relationships? With the quick patter between Vaughn & Favreau & the understated nuttiness of Bateman & others, I found it all a highly enjoyable & clever comedy (& considerably better than expected).