Four Christmases (2008)

When I picked the Christmas movies I'd watch this year, I left the 22nd out as I was supposed to watch Aquaman on the 21st. Turns out they moved the release date to January 1 because of the new Mary Poppins movie —I hope it flops with all of my heart— and I found myself short of a movie. Four Christmases is the first I stumbled upon, I saw it had Reese Witherspoon —believe it or not, I like her— and I went with it. 

The film follows Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon), a couple who met in a bar around Christmas who has managed to avoid spending Christmas with their families for the past three years by going on heavenly vacations. This year, their plan fails as all the flights have been cancelled and a television news crew interviews them revealing to their families where they are. Having no way out, they are forced to spend time with their families, which means four Christmases the same day since both Brad and Kate parents are divorced.

I don't think I need to point out how stupid the plot is. Actually, doing that would require the film to have a plot and Four Christmases doesn't have one, it's just a sequence of random-ish events that serves as a vehicle for "jokes" and that ends in the most predictable way possible. 

Just like the plot, the characters too lack depth and any sort of development. Neither Brad nor Kate are likeable leads, and the fact that Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn has no chemistry sure doesn't help to make you root for their relationship. And I found it tremendously annoying that Brad and Kate are such out-of-the-box people, both against marriage and kids, and then, all of a sudden, Kate wants it all and, five seconds later, Brad wants it all. If anything, an experience like theirs would make me give up on the idea of having kids for good. 

New Line Cinema

As for the supporting characters, they are a wide variety of weird, odd characters. The problem? There's too many of them so none really stands out. Also, they aren't likeable at all, and having big actors —Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and many more— playing them doesn't help one bit.  

Neither the plot nor the characters are Four Christmases's biggest problem though, the humour is. The film is filled with idiotic, childish jokes that are just too stupid to be funny, Vaughn's sarcasm barely works here, and the gags are very generic and not funny at all. I must have chuckled something like one time while watching this film.

Catch-22 (1970)

I rarely decide to read a book because of its plot  —most of the time, I don't even know the plot—; it's because it was suggested by someone I know and trust, it was on a books you must read before you die kind of list, or I liked the cover —yes, I'm that shallow. The second applied to Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and when I read the back cover and learnt it was a war novel I had the impulse to return it to the library without reading it. I gave it a shot anyway and I loved it. Then, of course, I did what I always do, I searched the internet for a movie based on the novel and I stumbled upon Mike Nichols's Catch-22.

It follows Captain Yossarian (Alan Arkin), a bombardier in World War II who desperately tries to be certified insane so he can stop flying missions and go home. In the process of doing this, he watches most of his friends die.

If you have read the novel, then you know that there's a lot more going on. The story indeed features so many subplots, it's hard to keep count of them all. The problem with Nichols's film is that many subplots, which are very important to understand the ending, are not included in the film and therefore if you haven't read the book, the whole thing makes very little sense. And because of it, the non-linear storytelling that worked beautifully in the novel does not work here. It only makes it all very confusing.

The other big problem with this adaptation is the characters. Not only many characters didn't make it to the film —I get that you can't include everyone in a film, but one does not cut out a character like Lt. Scheisskopf— but those who made it to the film, are barely two-dimensional and their portrayals do not recall the characters from the novel. Also, the relationships between the characters are never explained.

Despite that, the cast does a good job. Alan Arkin gives a believable and humorous performance as Yossarian, the only sane man in an insane world; Jon Voight gives a mesmerizing performance as Milo Minderbinder, a mess officer obsessed with expanding mess operations and trading goods, the satire of a businessman —Milo was my favourite character and Voight really did him justice; Anthony Perkins fits the role of Chaplain Capt. A.T. Tappman very well; and Bob Newhart does fine as Major Major Major Major —the character ended up being a disappointment anyway.

Paramount Pictures

At last, there's the entertainment factor. First of all, the pace is too slow, which makes the film kinda dull and boring. Second, the brilliant humour from Heller's novel is nowhere to be found here. There are some hilarious scenes here and there but unfortunately many of the most interesting and funny moments from the novel were left out and therefore there's not enough material to entertain.