MOVIE OF THE WEEK: COUPLES RETREAT (10/9/09)

Friends Joey (Jon Favreau - not that "other" famous friend played by Matthew LeBlanc named Joey), Ronnie (Malin Ackerman), Dave (Vince Vaughn), Shane (Faizon Love) and Lucy (Kristen Davis) look forward to having some fun in the sun in COUPLES RETREAT.
Credit: John Johnson/Universal Pictures

KEY CAST MEMBERS: Vince Vaughn, Kristen Bell, Jason Bateman, Malin Ackerman, Jon Favreau, Faizon Love, Kristen Davis, Kali Hawk and Jean Reno

WRITER: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Dana Fox

DIRECTOR: Peter Billingsley

WEB SITE: CouplesRetreatMovie.com

THE PLOT: Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristin Bell) are a very focused couple ... Unfortunately, they are also a very troubled couple looking to do whatever they can to save their marriage.

To fix their marriage, they decide to recruit their friends - the laid back Dave (Vince Vaughn) and his seemingly happy wife Ronnie (Malin Ackerman); high school sweethearts Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristen Davis) and the divorced-but-dating (Faizon Love) and his 20-year-old girlfriend Trudy (Kali Hawk) - to join them at Eden, an island retreat that seems like paradise run by Marcel (Jean Reno) ...

That all changes, however, when they find out all the fun stuff they thought they would get to do is over at "Eden East" - and they're staying at "Eden West," which is more like paradise if run by an overly zealous Dr. Phil.

Needless to say, their vacation in paradise might turn out to be a living hell they never expected ...

THE TAKE: Couples Retreat is a lot like a relationship (says the man who has been stood up twice in the last 60 days ... But I digress ...): It has highs , it has lows, it's funny, it's sad and there are many times when being involved with it makes you wonder why you bothered in the first place.

The best jokes are all bodily fluid and/or sex-related, but there are a few laugh out loud moments. There is a ton of commercial placement (this movie may single-handedly either increase sales of Guitar Hero or make people over 25 put down their strap forever.) Likewise, the relationship problems are common and nothing revelatory comes out of their solution ... But when the characters address their relationships, that is actually the best part of the movie (well that and the female cast members providing eye candy for the men while Carlos Ponce does the same for the ladies).

Long story short, Couples Retreat isn't bad, but it's far from great. The best way to sum it up might be to compare it to a first date - it's a tad awkward, it has its moments and it never lives up to the anticipation you have for it going in.

Consider this a trip worth a bit of sight seeing, but not enough for a long layover.

RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):