By J.A. O’Sullivan

While you might get a laugh or two out of “Couples Retreat,” a comedic stab at relationship therapy, you won’t get much more. As a stab, it’s a weak one – more like a wan attempt. Starring Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, who also wrote the script, “Couples Retreat” follows four supposedly dysfunctional relationships to a heavenlike resort where they can work away their issues in a backdrop.
The issues, however, reside more with the movie than the couples. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with any of the couples, in fact, except with Jason (Jason Bateman, “State of Play, TV’s “Arrested Development”) who tortures his friends via power-point presentation, breaking and entering and all-around smarminess. The script, written by two of the leads – Vince Vaughn (“Old School,” “Swingers”) and Jon Favreau (“Iron Man” director, “Swingers”)- have little of the comedic edge which those actors are capable of delivering. Instead, “Couples Retreat” mushes a bunch of new-agey cliche-jokes about therapy and communication.
The bright spots are few and far between. It’s always a pleasure to watch Kristin Davis and Malin Akerman, who play Favreau’s and Vaughn’s wives, respectively. Any like any Vince Vaughn dud, his character at some point manages to, against all odds, kick out some laughs. If you can’t get guess that this flick ends happily ever after, you probably weren’t smart enough to find the movie theater in the first place.

Grade: C-
Director: Peter Billingsley
Runtime: 1:30
Rating: PG-13