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Couples Retreat

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 34 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Jon Favreau
Vince Vaughn
Dana Fox
Directed by: Peter Billingsley
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 9, 2009
Running Time: 107 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 on appeal for sexual content and language
Starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, Faizon Love, Kali Hawk, Jean Reno, and Jean Reno
The comedy follows four Midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a tropical island resort. While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the other three set out to jet ski, spa and enjoy some fun in the sun. They soon discover that participation in the resort’s couples therapy is not optional. Suddenly, their group-rate vacation comes at a price. What follows is a hilarious look at real world problems faced by all couples. (Universal Pictures)
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What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Thanks to Vaughn, Favreau, and the stray sharp lines that pop out of everyone else, the film at least offers the lively sound of egos that still know how to swing.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Despite being mediocre and largely forgettable, Couples Retreat is not unpleasant, although it's easier to recommend it for home viewing than for a trip to a theater.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand
The story and the humor get progressively skimpier than an Ipanema bikini.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
You'll have a few laughs, for sure. Just don't expect to enjoy yourself as much as everybody on screen.
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams
In Couples Retreat, it's Favreau, not Vaughn, who is wound up, and this vacation comedy goes nowhere.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
A good idea for a sophisticated comedy lurks within the latest Jon Favreau-Vince Vaughn collaboration, Couples Retreat, but the filmmakers lack the courage of their convictions. So the payoff is mixed at best.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Among the better things in the movie, I count Vaughn's well-timed and smart dialogue.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
Those involved got to spend weeks at a Bora Bora luxury resort; all we get is this not lousy but unmemorable tropical-vacation comedy.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Tedious, unromantic, sophomoric and only sporadically funny.
Read Full Review >NPR Mark Jenkins
First-time feature director Peter Billingsley could have enlivened the action with more vigorous editing. Everything takes too long, and the slapstick sequences are particularly lethargic.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Features a running gag about a little boy in the midst of potty training who doesn’t always go where it’s appropriate. In a nutshell, that subplot explains everything that’s wrong about the film.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Nick Pinkerton
The movie’s cumulative idea is that, forgetting the delusions of midlife panic, this is all there is, you’re already living the best possible life -- a message of sedentary wisdom betrayed when the actual film is as undeniably dreary as a plate of gummy Chicken Parmesan Tanglers.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
A more helpful title for this date movie would have been Couples, Retreat!
Read Full Review >Washington Post Dan Zak
Coasts on comic fumes, relying on colloquialisms, foreign accents, racial stereotypes, lemon sharks, Speedos and inopportune erections to supply the funny. Any one of these things might work in a comedy that was less contrived.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Here's the title: Couples Retreat. And here's the review: Couples, Retreat. Yep, just find the verb, treat it as a command, and vamoose, unless you harbour an abiding curiosity about how eternally long 100 minutes can feel.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Everything about Couples Retreat feels plastic, though: the jokes, the trees, the extras, the attitudes. It’s dumbed-down entertainment aimed at a dumbed-down audience - the comedy equivalent of a McMansion.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The cast got to spend a month shooting on Bora Bora. So that explains why they're in the movie. Why you'd spend good money for a ticket to watch them have all the fun and not have any fun yourself passes understanding.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Finds it as impossible to locate a laugh in glittering Bora Bora as it was for Operation Enduring Freedom to nail Osama bin Laden in gritty Tora Bora.
Read Full Review >Time Out New York Keith Uhlich
It’s too easy to say that Peter Billingsley shot his eye out with this inept comic trifle, but…well, he shot his eye out.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Neither funny nor honest. The exact opposite of a retreat, it's merely exhausting.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
An R-rated version of this mess would be only more gratingly dishonest as it tried to hide its weak sentimentality behind a fig leaf of vulgarity.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Intelligence is insulted at every turn in this new date movie.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
It's the audience for this film that will require therapy.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Robert C gave it a1:
The writers and concept thinkers of this movie do not have any talent.
Harry M gave it a3:
By seeing this film, I chose not to listen to my friend who insisted that Metacritic's composite score of 24 had it right - my bad. Although the (far too few) interactions between Vaughn and Favreau were fairly amusing and showed the benefit of their extensive work together on screen, the rest of the cast had zero chemistry. Furthermore, most of the jokes pretty much consisted of sight gags that barely warranted a chuckle (such as the scene where Faizon Love drops trou). This movie also fell into the trap of forcing Vince Vaughn into his rapid fire, mini-monologue schtick when it didn't make any sense. The least they could have done was have at least one of the couples not wind up together, but instead the writers/director/producers (whoever) chose the rode more frequently traveled. A mess.
Amirah B. gave it a1:
It had your stereotypical black couple. Could not get pass that. Black people were being made fun of in this movie... left the movie along with four of my friends that also agreed.
Jose R. gave it a1:
Not funny. Really cheesy. Really lame. BAD, BAD movie. Awful movie.
Ty H. gave it a9:
This movie should be rated on what it is meant to be a comedy for couples. My wife & I really enjoyed it.
John S. gave it a0:
The movie plot not focus enough. Should just make it a porno movie.
Nikki L. gave it a2:
Long. Boring. Disconnected scenes. No chem between actors. Vaughn was sweaty thruout entire movie. Black chick --> not funny. Typecast. Club scene felt like a school dance on the Saved By the Bell set. Extremely poor editing. The studios and producers would do good to trim this flick and do a re-release on DVD. Revamp the entire movie, make it a satire of itself.
