Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Peter Billingsley
Produced by Scott Stuber
Vince Vaughn
Written by Jon Favreau
Vince Vaughn
Dana Fox
Starring Vince Vaughn
Jason Bateman
Jon Favreau
Faizon Love
Kristin Davis
Malin Åkerman
Kristen Bell
Jean Reno
Music by A. R. Rahman
Cinematography Eric Edwards
Edited by Dan Lebental
Pietro Scalia
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • October 9, 2009 (2009-10-09)
Running time
 113 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $60 million[1]
Box office $171.8 million[2][3]

Couples Retreat is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Billingsley, marking his directorial debut, and written by Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Dana Fox, Curtis Hanson, and Greg Beeman. Vaughn and Favreau star with Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Kristin Davis, Malin Åkerman, Kristen Bell, and Jean Reno. It was released on October 9, 2009, in the United States. The film was shot mostly on the French Polynesian island of Bora Bora.

Plot

Dave (Vince Vaughn), a dealer for Guitar Hero, and Ronnie (Malin Åkerman), a stay-at-home mom, are a typical couple raising two young children in the suburbs of Chicago. They experience various stresses including redecorating their house and raising their kids. Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis) are high school sweethearts with a smart but naive teenage daughter named Lacey. Their relationship is on the rocks and they are even considering a divorce once Lacey goes off to college. Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are a neurotic couple who've experienced multiple failed attempts to conceive, and Shane (Faizon Love), who has recently separated from his wife, has a much younger twenty-year-old girlfriend, Trudy (Kali Hawk).

At Dave's son's birthday party, Jason and Cynthia, using PowerPoint, announce their troubled marriage and they are considering divorce because they cannot have a baby. As a last-ditch effort, they have found a couples therapy resort named Eden. A deal called the Pelican Package is half the normal cost if they can get three other couples to join them. In their presentation, they show beautiful pictures of sunlit beaches and beautiful locations. They also assure the others that the couples therapy is purely optional.

Dave and Ronnie discuss their inability to go because of childcare responsibilities and decline the trip. In the middle of the night, their home security alarm is activated when Jason shows up unexpectedly to further sell the idea of the retreat. The commotion wakes the kids, who have overheard their parents' conversations of not being able to go because of them. Fearing that their parents are contemplating divorce, the kids have already arranged for Dave's father, Grandpa Jim-Jim (played by Vince Vaughn's real-life father, Vernon Vaughn) to babysit so their parents can go to Eden.

The retreat proves to be divided into Eden West and Eden East. West is for couples and uses the tagline "Stay Together". East is for singles and uses the tagline "Come Together". East and West attendees are not allowed to intermingle.

Upon arrival at Eden West, the four couples are shown their villas. At dinner, Sctanley [sic] (pronounced "Stanley"), the resort host (Peter Serafinowicz), informs them that couples therapy, which starts at 6 a.m., is actually mandatory. If any couple fails to attend, it will be taken as an indication that they want to leave, and a refund for Eden will be given, although not for their airfare. The group debates what to do. After an indulgent dinner with many delicacies, they decide to put up with "a couple of hours" of therapy in order to enjoy the other amenities of the resort.

In the morning, each couple meets with an assigned therapist. All four couples learn that they have problems, even Ronnie and Dave, who thought they were fine. They endure resort owner Marcel's (Jean Reno) unusual methods, including swimming with and feeding lemon sharks and yoga sessions with amorous instructor Salvadore (Carlos Ponce).

On the fourth night, Trudy escapes to Eden East. The other seven, encouraged by Joey who is unsatisfied with his marriage, leave to find her. Following an argument between Cynthia and Jason, the men and women split up. As they try to find their way to the resort, the men end up arguing and pointing out each others' marriage mistakes.

The women run into Salvadore who takes them to Eden East. The men come across the staff lounge where they find Sctanley playing Guitar Hero. He threatens to report them to Marcel, but Dave challenges him to the game (without telling Sctanley that he is involved in the game's production). Sctanley, after having lost the wager, directs them to Eden East, even though he knows he was tricked by Dave.

When they arrive, Dave realizes what a good thing he has with Ronnie. He goes with her to be alone at a waterfall. Joey finds Lucy with Salvadore and knocks him out, reuniting with his wife. Cynthia and Jason share drinks and end up becoming intimate. Shane runs into his ex-wife, who admits she still loves him. Shane tells Trudy to remain in Eden East and enjoy being single, then leaves with his ex-wife. All four couples return to Eden West.

Marcel, seeing that the couples have worked out their problems, frees them from the therapy and allows them to go jet skiing, and with that, really enjoy the rest of their vacation.

Cast

Soundtrack

Production

Filming locations

The primary location for filming was at the St. Regis Bora Bora Resort, Bora Bora in French Polynesia.[6] Other filming locations include Los Angeles, Universal Studios and O'Hare International Airport.

Editing

The sinister, darker scenes of the film were omitted from the final cut of the movie.[7]

Marketing

Universal Pictures was criticized for removing actors Faizon Love and Kali Hawk from the international posters for the film, showing only six rather than the eight cast members used for the U.S. promotional materials. The studio said it regretted causing offense and has abandoned plans to use the revised poster in other countries.[8][9]

Universal Pictures partnered with various groups for financial support to help market the film. Sponsors include the Tourism Board of Tahiti where the film was made, the manufacturers of Bud Light and Captain Morgan's Rum, Bloomingdale's department store, and Crunch Gyms. The video game Guitar Hero is also prominently featured in the film.

Reception

Critical reviews

The film received mostly negative reviews. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film received generally unfavorable reviews earning a score of 23% based on 27 reviews.[10] Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an aggregate rating of 11% based on 158 reviews, with a rating score of 3.6 out of 10. The critical consensus states that "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."[11]

Litigation

A former model and current salon stylist, Irina Krupnik, filed a $10 million misappropriation-of-likeness invasion-of-privacy lawsuit, naming several defendants including the producers of Couples Retreat arising from a purported masturbation scene in which actor Jon Favreau uses a photo of her.[12] Manhattan Supreme Court Judge O. Peter Sherwood ruled against Krupnik, and she received nothing.[13]

Box office

Despite the negative critical reception, it was a box office success, ranking first for its opening weekend grossing $34,286,740 and becoming Vince Vaughn's highest box office success since 2006's The Break-Up. The film has grossed $109.2 million domestically and $58.8 million in foreign markets for a worldwide total of $171 million.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Movie projector: 'Couples Retreat' could bring Universal much needed good news". Los Angeles Times. 2009-10-08.
  2. ↑ "Movie Couples Retreat – Box Office Data". The-Numbers. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  3. 1 2 "Couples Retreat (2009) Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  4. ↑ Vaughan, in his DVD commentary, briefly explains this odd spelling, noting "[it] is just kinda fun 'cos it makes ya think, well, why and how".
  5. ↑ Bryon Perry (2008-11-23). "Tasha Smith". Variety. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  6. ↑ Can be seen from film credits and the official St. Regis Bora Bora website.
  7. ↑ "Vince Vaughn, Ron Howard eye cheating picture". Reuters. 2010-01-06.
  8. ↑ Miles Goslett (2009-11-15). "Race row as black stars are airbrushed from Couples Retreat film poster". The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
  9. ↑ "The Big Picture". The Los Angeles Times. 2009-11-17.
  10. ↑ Couples Retreat at Metacritic. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  11. ↑ "Couples Retreat". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  12. ↑ "Former Model Sues NBC Universal Over 'Couples Retreat'.". ABC News. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  13. ↑ "Former Bikini Model Loses Tort Claim Over Use of Photo in Movie". Jonathan Turley. Retrieved 2013-04-11.

External links

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