”Couples Retreat” is an all-inclusive laugh vacation, a comedic retreat with Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman at the top of their funnyman game.

A warning though, while there is no frontal nudity, there are a lot of sexual references and innuendos that may not be appropriate for younger audiences.

Another warning, if you see this movie with your wife/girlfriend/date, you may end up discussing any “problems” or “issues” in your relationship.
 

(My spoiler free review)

The sights in Bora Bora are amazing, the cast is really good, and the script is well-written… but as I’ve wrote before, for me the greatness of this movie may be a victim of its marketing campaign – some of the funniest moments are in the trailers and tv spots.

Don’t get me wrong, this movie is funny, and most audiences will be hearing and seeing these jokes for the first time, but there are some jokes that are also predictable… its a good thing this movie also has a story like “The Hangover” and is not just a series of jokes and pranks, but unlike “The Hangover” this movie doesn’t really surprise or create something we haven’t seen before in other comedies.

Vaughn, Bateman, John Favreau, Faizon Love, Malin Ackerman, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis and the rest of the cast are great… everyone creates a memorable character and the movie delivers a ton of one-liners.

The movie does entertain and does make you laugh, but its not my favorite comedy of the year, it could make my top five… we’ll see with 4 months left… its on the bubble.

FYI – While there are no bloopers during creditrs like some comedies, there is a short scene at the end of the credits.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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If it weren’t for “The Hangover” and “I Love You, Man”… this would have been the funniest movie of the first half of the year.

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are great, but their supporting cast really makes this movie one of the best date movies of the year.

 ( My spoiler-free review )

Bullock has built her career on rom-coms… and this is another one to add to the collection… but she doesn’y play the same type of character she plays in so many other movies… this time she’s more of an agressive businesswoman with a very cold shoulder.

Reynolds is a great compliment as his career is exploding this year, but we’ve been watching him get better and better in bigger and bigger roles … he’s a draw for both male and female audiences with his comedic timing and facial expressions that nail the jokes all by themselves.

But you can have too much of a good thin.. and the filmmakers were wise to see that they had a great, but small supporting cast like Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson to give some funny lines and moments to.  But the real scene stealers were TV Legend Betty White amd “The Office”‘s Oscar Nuñez.

THE BOTTOM LINE: (more…)

“Watchmen” is good, not great, its also not a complete disaster for its $100 million budget.

Its also NOT A MOVIE FOR YOUNG KIDS with its brutally graphic violence, nudity, and adult themes… similiar in nature to “Sin City” (2005).

My review is Spoiler-free !!!

“Watchmen” is, as you would probably expect, visually stunning, with a good story, good writing, really good character development, good cinematography, good acting, good costumes, good sound, mostly good music, good visual effects, good sets, good action sequences, and mostly good makeup.

Okay movie fans.. what Oscar category (that applies to this movie) did I leave out?

Its the category that could have pushed this movie into my favorites….

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