Too many Christmases, not enough laughs

The holidays are here, and families are making their ways to the movie theaters. When Christmastime comes, people take pride in the holiday, and so does the film industry. “Four Christmases” leads off the Christmas season this year.

Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) fly away on vacations each Christmas to avoid their families. But this year their plans are derailed as their flight gets canceled and they are forced to visit the families of all four of their divorced parents.

Dysfunctional families, wild churches, UFC-fighting brothers, crazy sisters, burping babies and a friend who is romantically involved with another friend’s mother are all part of the journeys in “Four Christmases.” Brad and Kate have a lot to deal with in one day, and these weird characters bring out their true roots. This makes for several funny moments, but it’s almost too much to throw in a film that’s less than 90 minutes long.

The film has a lot of potential with the great supporting cast that includes Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau and Mary Steenburgen; but the high quantity and low quality of the all-stars’ performances is unable to turn the movie’s simple premise into an enjoyable film.

Vince Vaughn does his usual shtick to get into some awkward situations that will make for a few chuckles here and there, but he’s nowhere near the Vaughn that unleashed shouts of laughter in “Wedding Crashers” or “Old School.” Although this isn’t Vaughn’s best performance, at least his character has something to do, unlike Witherspoon, whose character is paper-thin and completely void of originality.

With the holidays here, “Four Christmases” will prepare you for life with the in-laws, but it’s no different from any other Christmas film. It begins with people not much into the season who proceed to gain rich experiences and learn the true values of spending the holidays with the family.