Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 23, 2009
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
Has a vacation ad ever lured you to what appeared to be a tropical paradise, only when you arrived you found nothing but dirty sand, cheap hotels and t-shirt vendors? That experience is similar to what it’s like watching the trailer for “Couples Retreat,” then the full-length feature.
The promo makes the new Vince Vaughn flick look like an easy, breezy comedy, full of lighthearted laughs and naughty bits. And for the first hour or so, that’s what you get as four couples travel to a tropical island vacation resort that doubles as a couple’s therapy retreat. Jason and Ronnie go to save their marriage; six of their friends tag along for fun, but find themselves required to participate in the therapy. Mild chuckles ensue.
“Couples Retreat” is the latest in an outbreak of comedies in which the actors improvise many of their lines. My main problem with this is that it usually looks and sounds like everyone is doing precisely that. Vaughn has been guilty of this in a few recent roles, but in “Couples Retreat,” he pulls it off in a more natural and funny way. The other actors, not so much.
Your enjoyment of the aforementioned naughty bits will depend on whether or not you think a male yoga instructor simulating sex acts with the women he’s tutoring is amusing.
No matter how much “Couples Retreat” entertains or bores you, you’ll still have to endure an awkward scene in which Vaughn and the host of the resort duke it out in “Guitar Hero” and then watch as the movie bends over backward to give each couple a happy ending.
My favorite contrivance is the storm that SUDDENLY kicks up as the couples row across the water between two islands, then JUST AS SUDDENLY disappears after it sets in motion the problem it was designed to create. Wow. You really do have to plan for contingencies when vacationing in a second-rate comedy.
One couple that spends the entire movie wallowing in hatred and flirting with adultery reconciles so quickly, and for such a silly reason, they should notify Guinness.
So, while “Couples Retreat” might not provide a five-star getaway, some people enjoy dirty sand, cheap hotels and t-shirt vendors. Just make sure to take your umbrella. You never know when a storm might SUDDENLY kick up!
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I like Ricky Gervais, best known as the egotistical boss in the British version of “The Office.” He’s been in a few good movies, too, but nothing that propelled him to the level of stardom. His unique blend of timing and stunned disbelief at the absurdity of the situations in which he finds himself is genuinely funny.
I thought “The Invention of Lying” would be a breakaway movie for Gervais, but I was wrong.
The first 30 minutes are brilliant, though. Gervais, who wrote and directed the project, creates a world in which people not only never lie, but also are compelled to share all of their thoughts, no matter how offensive. This leads to a scene in which a woman informs her blind date of her dashed hopes the moment she sees him. The woman is Anna, played by Jennifer Garner; the man is Mark Bellison, played by Gervais.
Later, Bellison visits his mother at a retirement home called “A Sad Place for Hopeless Old People.” The world is so incapable of fabrication, movies consist of one person reciting historical events to the camera.
When Bellison faces eviction from his apartment after losing his job, though, he convinces a bank teller his account contains more money than her computer shows, and she hands over the extra cash. Thrilled with his discovery, he sets out to make the world his oyster.
“Lying” takes a philosophical turn, though, when Bellison tells his dying mother about a Big Man in the Sky and the wonderful place he’s prepared for her. His mom smiles as she takes her last breath, but when word of his “discovery” gets out, the whole world knocks down his door to learn more. Unfortunately, that’s when the laughs end.
At this point, Gervais, an atheist, turns “Lying” into a platform for skewering belief in the supernatural. I don’t mind someone challenging my faith; the change in tone just kills an otherwise inspired story.
As “Lying” nears the end of its running time, Gervais tries to salvage what’s left into a romantic comedy, complete with a manufactured crisis, but that doesn’t take, either, since Anna is so shallow.
In spite of its story problems, “Lying” has enough laughs and charm to make it worth renting when it hits DVD. Gervais’ attack on Christian beliefs might put off some viewers, however, so consider yourself warned. As for me, I’m still talking with the Big Man in the Sky.
E-mail David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountryherald.
com.
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