Vince Vaughnas BradThe story
About Four Christmases
A happily unmarried couple who dodge their families every Christmas by inventing charity trips abroad are grounded by fog on the morning of their getaway and caught out live on the local news. With four divorced parents to placate, they spend Christmas Day driving from house to house, and each stop turns up a childhood secret that makes them wonder how well they really know each other, and whether they want a family of their own.
The CineClaus verdict
A good premise let down by two leads who rarely seem to be in the same film.
Vaughn riffs, Witherspoon hits her marks, and the gap between them never closes. The parents are the real reason to watch: Duvall, Spacek, Steenburgen and Voight give each house visit more texture than the script does. The structure is episodic, so drifting off during one stop costs you little, and the ending is kinder than what comes before.
A fair pick for couples who split Christmas Day between two sets of parents and fancy watching someone else handle it worse.
The family desk
Can the kids watch?
Our take: rated 12 for moderate language and sex references. The brawls and the fall from a roof are slapstick with no real threat, but the jokes about marriage, divorce and family secrets are pitched at adults, so it suits twelve and up.
BBFC advice: Contains moderate language and sex references.
Content advice & accessibility
- Where the advice comes from
- The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
- Our age guidance
- Editorial, separate from the official 12 certificate, and never looser than it.
