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.

A Case of You (2013)

I added A Case of You on my watchlist a couple of years ago as I wanted to watch it for a Thursday Movie Picks theme and forgot about it. Then I removed it from my list because it was a romantic comedy. And then I added on my list again because of Sam Rockwell. And he is pretty much the only reason A Case of You is worth watching. Unless you are a clichéd romantic flick fan, in that case, you're gonna love it.

Sam (Justin Long) is a young New York City writer who is suffering from writer's block and spends a lot of time at the local coffee shop. One day, he lays eyes on the barista, Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood), and falls for her. Unfortunately, as he tries to casually start a conversation, she doesn't seem interested, and the day after he learns that she was fired for often being late. After finding out something more about her from her former boss (Peter Dinklage), he decides to stalk her on Facebook and becomes everything she is looking for.

I'm not even sure I need to say this, but the plot is utterly predictable and clichéd. It is barely entertaining and it fails completely to engage on an emotional level. It is kind of interesting the way the writers incorporated social media into the story and tried to show what a negative effect they have on us, how much they influence our lives, how much harder and more complicated they make dating, and that we should not believe at everything we see or read on someone's online profile but its delivery is poor. 

The characters too are pretty lazy-written. Each character is a one-dimensional stereotype, and they are pretty unlikable too. It's hard if not impossible to feel sympathy for Sam as he is pretending the whole time to be someone else and later on he can't deal with having nothing in common with Birdie. Dude, you knew it already when you started it all, why do you want our sympathy now? Also, Justin Long once again plays that awkward guy he always plays, and his comedic timing isn't that on point. Back to the sympathy, you can only have some for Birdie as she is the one who sucked into this web of lies. Actually, that's not true as at the end we learn that she knew Sam was pretending all along. Just like Long's, Wood performance is mediocre. And their chemistry isn't that good either. 

IFC Films

There are a few surprises in the supporting cast though. Peter Dinklage is quite amusing and occasionally funny as Birdie's former boss, a gay barista; same goes with Brendan Fraser as Birdie's ex-boyfriend. But the standout easily is Sam Rockwell who plays a guitar teacher and gives an over-the-top but funny and memorable performance. Also, he rocks a beard and plays the guitar. Busy Philips and Vince Vaughn, on the other hand, aren't that good.