Collegiate Times

When I heard that Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn truly did not like each other in real life, I wondered if they had what it took to pull off a love-hate relationship in "Four Christmases." Well, they got the hate part right, but the "loving" aspect to their acting was about as good as Mariah Carey's acting in "Glitter."

Vaughn and Witherspoon star as a hip couple, Brad and Kate, who slink off every Christmas to some exotic location to avoid their divorced parents, all the while lying to them and telling them they work for charity.

Karma bites them in the butt, though, as they are outed on national television when their flight to Fiji is canceled because of weather. This brings them to a decision they dread -- going home to four different Christmases.

Brad's dad (Robert Duvall) is a really perverted brute of a man; his mom (Sissy Spacek) is shacking up with his old time friend, and his brothers are ultimate fighters who love to make his life a living hell.

On Kate's side, the only normalcy comes from her father (Jon Voight) who supports her. Her mother (Mary Steenburgen) has become a religious fanatic after dating a preacher, and her jealous sister loves to give her a hard time regarding her childhood. It's a "Meet the Parents" for Christmas -- but at least that story was well written.

The best part of this hour and a half movie was Jon Favreau's character as Brad's brother.

He was truly a menacing and taunting brother, and brought hilarity to the story, keeping the audience in stitches.

Since I am usually a big Vince Vaughn fan, I was excited to see the film.

However, besides the witty repartee that Vaughn brings to film, there was nothing else to boost his performance. Witherspoon was basically a flop throughout the movie with her one-dimensional character.

The prissy attitude gave the audience a few chuckles, as well as her inability to handle a child, but overall she appeared to have to bite her tongue in order to work a simple scene with Vaughn.

There was no on-screen chemistry or anything to make you believe there could be -- though granted, the two fought through much of the film.

There appeared to be no enthusiasm toward the script from the cast, and it certainly seems there wasn't much reason to be.

The storyline is all over the place. The UFC-wannabe brothers and the usual comedy of Vaughn is really all this film has going for it, but if you are tired of the same old Vaughn routine then save your money.

When it comes to movies, I think Vaughn is better off crashing weddings with Owen Wilson.

Witherspoon needs to work on her acting if she intends on performing with people who she doesn't like in the future, because her dislike for Vaughn was seeping out of her pores throughout the film.