Three couples on the rocks and one couple blindly approaching the rocks agree to go on a vacation in paradise. At least that's where they think they're going. They don't realize that there are two sides to paradise: the fun, partying side and the not so fun side with therapy. Guess where they end up?
Once they're there, there's a lot of serious mixed in with the funny. The therapy sessions are a tad more uncomfortable than humorous, and the couples' interactions are just painful. Both of these were intentional, I think. Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau are showing that they are grown ups who can write grown up movies now.
Of course, they still appreciate the nonsense. I imagine them sitting across eachother at a table, writing down random funny thoughts and putting them in a bowl:
Huge, naked black guy...
Inappropriate yoga instructor...
Panic over sharks...
Guitar Hero battle...
Mr. Belvedere reference...
Kid peeing in a toilet at the home improvement store...
Kid pooping in a toilet at the home improvement store...
The term "asstastic"...
Then it came time to draw out a couple of ideas and figure out a way to make them part of the overall plot. Instead, though, they just dumped all the ideas out of the bowl and decided a cohesive plot wasn't all that necessary once all the random funny stuff was in there.
Then they decided that all the characters would be flawed but be unwilling to see it. It would be the job of all the other characters to point out the flaws in their friends.
At some point they realized that this was kind of a bummer because none of these relationships would survive. They fixed this by having all the characters come to self-realization at the exact same time so that everyone could live happily ever after.
It's not a terrible movie, but it's also not great. I'm glad there was some satisfaction at the end... but I wish it was mine and not just the characters'.
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