The story of Couples Retreat brings many names with it. Dave (Vince Vaughn), Jason (Jason Bateman), Joey (Jon Favreau) each have a wife. Shane (Faizon Love) has a girlfriend and an ex-wife. To keep from being like Shane, Jason and his wife Cynthia (Kristin Bell) have plotted to go on a couples retreat to Eden, a secluded tropical island. Unfortunate for some of the loving couples, their side of the island isn’t the fun-zone they expected. Instead they are forced into counseling.

The easiest fault to spot is that we have far too many couples. Cut the number in half, and we might have something with which to work. With so many present, it’s difficult to establish characters. The only identifying traits are assigned with one word: infertile, divorced, cheating, etc. It would have been preferred to make this about Favreau and Vaughn (and their respective wives: Kristin Davis and Malin Akerman). Say that Favreau and Kristin Davis are the one’s on the rocks, they pull Vaughn and Akerman into it; now you have a screenplay. Reducing the cast would give these characters time to talk to each other, play some consistent gags, and project a stream of personality. In Couples Retreat, there isn’t even a distinctive klutz or brain persona.

If you want to look at the craft, it’s not an ugly movie. It’s filmed in paradise, so shooting for “not ugly” isn’t difficult. It’s by the numbers. You get the requisite CGI animal that romantic comedies now call for. You get some trendy background music at a club. Though plot wise it was uncalled for, there was some ambitious editing during a Guitar Hero showdown. However we only hear about Dave’s strength in this field since we never get to see anyone actually do what they are good at—a direct flaw in having too many central characters; they only talk about their jobs, high school football stats, etc. It’s a lack of credentials. Heck, if Marcel (Jean Reno) is a couples’ guru, why don’t we see him with a happily married wife?

Couples Retreat doesn’t fall into the romantic comedy genre under the traditional intentions, and that creates a problem. No party has to be romantic in this film since they are already paired up. Just as many (zero) choose to bring the comedy; Vaughn tries oh so hard. The funny moments of the film all belong to Carlos Ponce in the role of Salvadore, a “hands-on” yoga instructor. The “encouragement” he brings the couples certainly goes noticed by the audience. Unfortunately he appears very late in the film and has no direct purpose besides offering the few enjoyable lines. Speaking of which, his best moment is left on the cutting room floor. In the TV spots, and I swear by this, I’ve seen a commercial where he is pressed up against Jason Bateman and tells him something along the line of, “you have to press against me so I’ll know you’re straight”. Since you get the best moments at home, why bother going on a Couples Retreat? **