Four Christmases (12A

2.00

Seth Gordon (88 mins)

By Robert Hanks

Friday 28 November 2008

Traditional seasonal comedy about cynics learning the value of Christmas and the importance of family.

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play a happy couple who stay that way by avoiding marriage, kids and their dysfunctional families; but lo!, come Christmas they're forced to shuttle between their divorced parents (Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen). A fabulous cast is thrown away on forced gags; still, by the genre's standards the message is interestingly complex and ambivalent – pro-family, naturally, but with such qualifications that you almost feel it's sincere.

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