Christmas in July Blogathon 2019 – Four Christmases (2008)

This post is part of the annual Christmas in July Blogathon being held over at Drew’s Movie Reviews.

Here‘s the link to the original post.

Tnx Drew!
“My childhood was like the Shawshank Redemption, except I didn’t have some old, warm, black man to share my story with!” – Brad

Number of Times Seen – Twice (31 Oct 2009 and 9 Jul 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A couple planning to spend the Christmas holiday alone must spend it with the four different houses of their divorced parents

My Take on it – This is a film that I saw years ago not long after it came out and didn’t recall anything about it at all.

When Drew invited me to this blogathon, I scoured the net looking for something fresh and new for me that deals with Christmas and this caught my eye.

It’s actually an interesting idea that works mostly due to the superb cast.

The plot itself gets a bit silly, but Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon help make this work even better.

The two of them have great chemistry together and their back and forth with one another makes this movie so much more fun to watch.

The supporting cast is also superb especially since most of them feel like expanded cameo roles.

Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Sissy Spacek and Jon Voight are all hilarious as the four parents and give us so much to ponder about the meaning of the holiday.

Each of these four houses celebrate the holidays in different ways and that allows us to see the diverse fashion that people can spend their holiday, yet this movie makes it a bit more impactful since we get to see how this couple deals with their very eccentric families during this time of year.

As a rom-com, this film works on numerous levels, but it’s best part is the way that we can see how much one can learn by getting know and visiting the extended family because we can learn so much more about a person.

Bottom Line – Interesting idea that works largely due to the pairing of Witherspoon and Vaughn. They have amazing chemsitry here that helps make this film more watchable. The rest of the cast is also superb, even if most seem like cameo roles. Duvall, Steenburgen, Spacek and Voight are all hilarious as the parents. The way that all four of these houses celebrate the holidays differently says so much about the diverse ways that people spend their holidays yet here it is a bit more impactful because it allows us to see how these two people deal with their very eccentric and very different families. As a rom-com, it’s a lot of fun especially since it shows how much people can learn about one another when you get to finally meet the rest of the family.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – According to Director Seth Gordon, the film’s subject is the difficulty all people have of reconciling who they are, and the person they’re supposed to be, which is why it’s so hard to spend Christmas with one’s family, and why it can engender uneasiness. Naturally, he also felt Christmas was an amazing playground for comedy. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)