Saturday, 18 September 2021 18:47

Four Christmases









FOUR CHRISTMASES

US, 2008, 88 minutes, Colour.
Vince Vaughan, Reece Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, John Favreaux, Mary Steenbergen, Dwight Yokum, Tim Mc Graw, Kristen Chenoweth, Colleen Camp.
Directed by Seth Gordon.

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, Christmas in the movies meant something like the cosy sweetness of Meet Me in St Louis or the perennial It's a Wonderful Life. In the 21st century, in a franker age and with so many families unlike the nuclear families of yesteryear, then Four Christmases will have to do.

It is often quite funny. In fact, the message is not too much different from that of the old days. Hope does spring eternal. Families should be close and the season is one of peace and love. Four Christmases adds a nativity play and images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (albeit in a humorous, happy-clappy congregation) that are a contemporary reminder of Christ in Christmas in an age where some cities have substituted 'the holiday season' and banned representations of the Gospel story. (In fact, this film was re-titled Four Holidays in some countries – which rather ignores and/or belittles the point. It kept its original title in the US and the UK.)

Brad and Katie are a modern couple, unmarried, playing innuendo games in the opening scenes which deceives no one who has seen this kind of sequence before, happy in each other's company and trying to avoid Christmas family gatherings (when we meet the families we can understand why) by pretending to be going to do charity work in Burma but in reality hightailing it for Fiji and scuba diving. Fog in San Francisco. Planes grounded. TV news cameras everywhere interviewing frustrated travellers. Guess what! And guess who sees their offspring on TV! This means four Christmases on the one day as they visit Brad's father, Katie's mother, Brad's mother and Katie's father with some good comedy sequences and some personal discoveries and learning more about each other and, finally, some good advice and the traditional ending.

Vince Vaughn is just right as Brad. Reese Witherspoon is as resourceful as Elle Wood was but more serious-minded. And the stars for the parents are a treat. Robert Duvall provides the rough and down-to-earth Dad. Mary Steenburgen is the glamorous, flighty mother. Sissy Spacek provides unself-conscious humour with a board game. Jon Voight has the wise-in-retrospect role.

Those who hanker after the niceness of the past may be put off at first, but the film grows on you and becomes very likeable. The characters – even the gallery of parents and oddball siblings – are engaging in their own way.

1.A holiday film, about holidays? Comedy? Serious underlying themes?

2.The American atmosphere, San Francisco, the countryside? Locations, families and homes, the season?

3.The Christmas atmosphere, the musical score, the songs?

4.Families, broken, children, the bonds, new lives? Issues of marriage, having children or not?

5.The introduction to Brad and Kate, the sex games, the revelation that they were together? At home, for three years? Their lives, work, bonds together, talking? Friends – and possible clashes? The holiday, not wanting to meet their families, the cover of charity work and the jokes about this, the fog, the television interview, the phone calls and their being unmasked?

6.Having to spend four Christmases on one day, the family bonds, endurance, the effect on each?

7.Howard and his sons, crusty, a worker, blunt, at home, the mess, the fights, Brad’s name as Orlando and the reasons? The grandkids? Denver and his wife? The physical attacks on Brad, his trying to defend himself, the brothers putting him down, the effect on Kate? The comedy style, the gift of the satellite, the dish, the disaster in the house, Brad humiliated, the code for them to go? The effect on Kate?

8.The contrast with Marilyn and her style, Kate’s sister, the extended family, aunts, Gram Gram and her comments? The comparisons of families? Pastor Pat? Kate, the photos, her being a blimp, her fear of the funhouse, the memories? Her niece, the gifts, taunting Kate? Going into the funhouse, overcoming her fears? Going to church, the pageant, Pastor Pat and his Pentecostal style? The family in church? The congregation? The pageant, Marilyn volunteering Brad and Kate, being Mary and Joseph, the preparation, Kate and her nervousness, forgetting her lines, Brad eager, taking over and an achievement?

9.The contrast with Paula, her partner, Brad’s school friend and his reaction to this, their memories of the past? The comedy, the grandkids coming over, the daughter-in-law, the gift of the board game, Kate trying to control, Paula always intervening, Denver and his wife and their winning quickly? Brad and Kate losing the game? The reaction and Brad leaving, not wanting to go to Kate’s father’s house? The seeming break-up of the partnership – the discussions, the quarrels?

10.Creighton, the family, a more serious event, everyone together, the reflections, Creighton and his speech, his acknowledgments of his failures, encouraging Kate? Brad returning? His change of heart?

11.The year later, the birth, the marriage, trying to keep it secret, their love and commitment to each other, the TV interview as the first baby of the year – unmasked?

12.The themes of family values – no matter what?
More in this category: « AMERICAN TEEN Choke »