Earnest, not particularly funny, and ultimately unforgivably sentimental. Somewhere along the way someone forgot humour.
Comment
10/09/09
Couples Retreat (2009)
15
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:4
Rotten:23
Average Rating:3.9/10
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: $104,992,030
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
1 - 17 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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 CriticWhy 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 CriticA rom-com short on romance and even shorter on laughs.
10/16/09
Top CriticIt is this vanity, this overweening self-regard, that makes Couples Retreat such a chore to sit through.
10/16/09
Top CriticA loo book written by Pol Pot would have more laughs than this chillingly unfunny, cynically prefabricated non-comedy.
10/16/09
Top CriticCouples Retreat is a comedy of exhaustion. But it is the comedy itself, in both concept and execution, that seems tired.
10/09/09
Top CriticIt's too bad Couples Retreat is so poorly written and conceived, given the talented cast and chemistry between Vaughn and pal Favreau. We're meant to relate to these hapless folks or laugh at their foibles, but more often we wince.
10/09/09
Top CriticThis is what passes for middle of the road comedy these days, safe without being prudish, never too disturbing, never too funny.
10/08/09
Top CriticIt's been 13 years since Swingers. Couples Retreat is a very different film from writers leading very different lives. It's fast paced. Its a bunch of skits book-ended with story. And it's a lot of fun.
10/08/09
Top CriticIt contains little comedy, except for free-standing one-liners, and no suspense, except for the timing of the obligatory reconciliation. It doesn't even make you think you'd like to visit its island paradise.
10/08/09
Top CriticThose involved got to spend weeks at a Bora Bora luxury resort; all we get is this not lousy but unmemorable tropical-vacation comedy.
10/07/09
Top Critic1 - 17 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Latest News for Couples Retreat
November 18, 2009:
Universal Causes Couples Controversy 
Wanting to narrow the visual focus on its poster for "Couples Retreat," Universal decided to erase a pair of the film's stars...and now they're dealing with the fallout. More...
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...
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