The Movie started from a Fiji flight cancellation, Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are forced to act out a Christmas tradition: visiting their families during christmas. Although Brad and Kate have been dating for more than three years and are currently living together, neither one of them has ever met each other’s parents.

Brad’s mishap includes a satellite dish plus Kate’s upsetting several babies and even an overly evangelical performance of the Christmas nativity scene, then the  four-stop visit tour to each of their divorced parents’ houses which is exaggerated to say the least.

In typical fashion during visits, the parents are eager to share baby and childhood pictures with their child’s significant memories. This causes some complications for Brad and Kate when they each discover that neither one of them has been completely honest in sharing each other about their childhoods. Some of the epiphanies are more or less embarrassing than the others, which ultimately the arguments drive away Brad and Kate’s perfectly pre-rehearsed happiness during the first portion of “Four Christmases.”

There is little chemistry between Vaughn and Witherspoon in the movie. This may have been intentional, to show the slow deterioration of their loving relationship. Nonetheless, Vaughn is guilty of his trademark outbursts of hilarity. Vince is the master of unknowing misunderstanding and thus resulting mis-communication. As in “The Movie Break Up,” his and his co-habitating co-star’s connection breaks down in the face of his never-ending hilarious speaking to oneself.

Witherspoon plays also a fairly comedic, although Vaughn overshadows her performance (literally). Kate does, however, offer most of the substance of the movie by ruing past Christmases that was spent away from family and contemplating the future of Brad’s and her relationship.

The all-star cast holds the film together. Kate’s parents are played by Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen, while Brad’s parents are played by Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek. In a way, both fathers and mothers play the same role in this Christmas Movie. The mothers are very welcoming to their child’s better half, while also being overtly sexually open and thus entertaining for viewing audiences. The fathers, on the other hand, offer the most advice and life lessons, causing Brad and Kate to realize the importance of having a family.

The siblings are also worthy of mention. Kate’s sister, Kristin Chenoweth, brings out Kate’s motherly tendencies while simultaneously embarrassing her with sisterly teasing. Brad’s brothers, played by Tim McGraw and Jon Favreau, execute their cage fighting routine on Brad when he arrives to have the exchange gifts. In his role as Pastor Phil (Dwight Yoakam), Kate’s mother’s boyfriend, is undoubtedly an amusement.

The couple’s Four Christmases are a lesson in the reality and difficulty of relationships. However, with a year-later scene tacked on the end, the audience questions how much Brad and Kate actually learned from their previous Christmas holiday together. Listen the sample and grab the CD Movie Soundtrack of “Four Christmases”.

Watch the “Four Christmases” Movie Trailer: