Four Christmases (2008)

Director:

Seth Gordon

Writers (WGA):

Matt Allen (screenplay) &
Caleb Wilson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

His father, her mother, his mother and her father all in one day.

Plot:

A couple struggles to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Airport | Satellite Dish | Satellite Television | Elvis Presley

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Vince Vaughn	...	Brad
Reese Witherspoon	...	Kate
Robert Duvall	...	Howard
Sissy Spacek	...	Paula
Jon Voight	...	Creighton
Jon Favreau	...	Denver
Mary Steenburgen	...	Marilyn
Dwight Yoakam	...	Pastor Phil
Tim McGraw	...	Dallas
Kristin Chenoweth	...	Courtney
Katy Mixon	...	Susan
Colleen Camp	...	Aunt Donna
Jeanette Miller	...	Gram-Gram
Jack Donner	...	Grandpa
Steve Wiebe	...	Jim

Also Known As:

Four Holidays (Australia) (New Zealand: English title)
Mein Schatz, unsere Familie und ich (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual humor and language.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44549) | Ireland:12A | UK:12A | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Norway:7 | New Zealand:M | Peru:14 | Sweden:Btl | France:U | Mexico:B | Germany:6 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Birnbaum/Barber

Trivia:

In order to develop the characters and give each of them an identity, director Seth Gordon drew up detailed timelines of their lives.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the family was playing Taboo, Brad said their time was up, but the sand timer had visibly not yet been started.

Quotes:

Darryl: Look, Brad. I'm not trying to be your father, you already got one of those. I'm just hoping for a chance to be your friend.
Brad: You were my friend, Darryl. You were my best friend. We grew up together, we rode bikes together, we used to smell each others hands. But now you're sleeping with my mom and it's a little bit weird for me. Can you appreciate that?
Darryl: I never had a sexual thought about your mom until I was 30.
Brad: Can you leave it alone? You can't be my friend anymore. You can't be sleeping with my mom and still be my friend, ok?

Movie Connections:

References "Transformers" (1984)

Soundtrack:

Rock & Roll Part 2

Great Cast, Questionable Script

Four Christmases (2008)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

It's hard to believe that a comedy like this would feature five Academy Award winners but that's the case and the end results aren't as bad as some critics made them appear. Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn play the perfect couple who enjoy their lives together, which doesn't include their family. After a lie they've been telling is blown, they're forced to visit all four of their divorced parents in one day. This comedy is certainly as light weight as they come but the terrific cast makes it worth watching even though you'll still be scratching your head wondering how so many Oscar-winners ended up in one film. You have Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen playing all the parents but you also have famous faces like Jon Favreau, Tim McGraw and Dwight Yoakam filling out supporting roles. With all these famous faces you can't help but stay mildly entertained throughout the rather short 89-minute running time. The jokes are all rather childish but this is a family comedy after all. We get several jokes with Witherspoon not liking children yet having to hold them only to get screamed at or puked on. We have other small jokes like Vaughn's brothers being wannabe wrestlers. We get jokes dealing with showing pictures that all parents show to embarrass their kids. Some of the humor is a darker, sexual related but it all gets minor laughs. There's certainly nothing here that's going to make you fall on the ground laughing but if you enjoy cheap humor then you'll certainly want to check it out. The cast has Vaughn leading the way giving his best Vaughn performance that only Vaughn could give. Witherspoon once again proves to be better than the material at hand, which is something happening quite a bit. Spacek and Voight doesn't get too much screen time but Duvall ends up with a pretty good role as the redneck dad. Again, this isn't the greatest comedy in the world and I'm sure it'll soon be forgotten but if you have a Redbox near you then it's certainly worth a dollar.