Earnest, not particularly funny, and ultimately unforgivably sentimental. Somewhere along the way someone forgot humour.
Comment
10/09/09
Couples Retreat (2009)
12
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:143
Fresh:17
Rotten:126
Average Rating:3.6/10
Consensus: Despite a talented cast and some reliably pleasant interplay between Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, Couples Retreat leaves viewers stranded in an arid, mirthless comedy.
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $95,979,760
Synopsis: Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell and Faizon Love star in Universal Pictures' upcoming comedy Couples Retreat. Based on an original idea of... [More]
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kristen Bell, Jason Bateman, Malin Akerman
Director: Peter Billingsley
Reviews for Couples Retreat
Top CriticThe film maintains a sufficiently pleasant comic vibe as the couples bicker and pick away at each other, but director Peter Billingsley never really brings matters to a satisfying boil.
10/08/09
Top CriticCouples Retreat turns out to be a sloppy, choppy mess.
10/08/09
Top CriticIf an easy watch is what you're after this will do the trick, simply keep expectations at a modest level and it won't be a waste of time.
10/08/09
Top CriticDespite the potential for humour from the couples and their relationship problems, the script relies on lame situation jokes.
10/08/09
Top CriticTo avoid paying for a holiday to hell, don't see Couples Retreat. A prime contender for 2009's Worst Film, this star-studded but startlingly drab "comedy" is the kind of terrible trip you pray will be over long before it’s time to go home.
10/05/09
Top CriticIf you feel like a date movie with a little romance, big laughs, witty dialogue, appealing characters and a spectacular location, this is not it... [an] embarrassment and an insult to audiences who might be conned into thinking it's escapist fun.
10/05/09
Top CriticSomewhere in all of this, there is the potential for a pretty good comedy, but this movie isn't it.
10/31/09
The vapid couples become sniping or sarcastic chunks of white blandness even sharks would spit back up. A kind of bad video-game romance-comedy: 2D characters, flat dialogue, an exotic backdrop, and lame new levels of relationship challenges.
10/23/09
Couples is so formulaic, so fake and relentlessly bland, it’s hard to care if any of these pairings get a divorce, drown or are eaten by sharks. It has neither the ring of truth nor the fun of fantasy.
10/20/09
Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, wrote the witless script, so have only themselves to blame.
10/20/09
The debutant director is done no favours by a screenplay from Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau which gives him little to play with and them few chances to shine as actors.
10/20/09
A patchwork collection of derivative gags and relationship drama that seems leftover from old 'thirtysomething' episodes.
10/19/09
Retreat as quickly as possible.
10/19/09
For all its visual splendor, to say nothing of its likable cast, the movie never feels as liberating as its locale.
10/17/09
Why couldn't Couples Retreat have been lighthearted and zany throughout, instead of trying to push across a message about picket-fence monogamy?
10/16/09
Top CriticCouples Retreat comes across as a movie that was made... because it was felt that if the right buttons were pushed, this might make money.
10/16/09
That the wonderful French actor Jean Reno plays the therapist is a sign that his agent is not doing a good enough job finding him film roles in American movies.
10/16/09
This couples-in-conflict comedy starts strongly but then slips into the turquoise water of paradise lost.
10/16/09
Bora Bora was a beautiful location to film at and added that much needed taste of paradise to a rather bitter sweet subject of a troubled marriage.
10/16/09
Latest News for Couples Retreat
October 12, 2009:
Watch RT This Week on Current TV
This week, The Rotten Tomatoes Show will be looking at the movies that opened over the weekend, with help from you (the Rotten Tomatoes community), the Current TV community, and... More...
October 11, 2009:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Couples Rule the Charts
Couples ruled the box office as Universal's Couples Retreat took top honors at the box office this weekend. But the real story was the low-budget horror entry from Paramount,... More...
October 09, 2009:
Couples Retreat Could Brighten Universal's Fall 
It's been buried beneath an avalanche of negative reviews, but as the only film opening in wide release this weekend, "Couples Retreat" still stands to post some decent numbers... More...
October 08, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Retreat From Couples Retreat
This week at the movies brings only one wide release: Couples Retreat, starring Vince Vaughn and Kristen Bell in a comedy about a group of friends in marriage counseling in a... More...
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