Couples Retreat - 1/5

The key flaw of this film is that it went all over the place and lacks focus; it doesn't know what the heck it wants to say nor how to say it. Thankfully Veronica Mars is in there to provide some eye candy. Oh Veronica, how I miss thee :'(.

The flaw is apparent right from the start of the film. It opens with a blatant Apple advertisement, pokes fun at American consumerism, and then nose dives to having a Mac user doing a slide show in Powerpoint. The editing and direction throughout the entire film is extremely awkward, and the film would have benefited by cutting at least one couple out of it--I recommend taking out the obnoxious black threesome.

The premise of the story is that four couples are going to a resort to sort out their marriage troubles, or lack thereof. Each couple represents an unique quirk for the film to explore, which it sort of does. It manufactures odd scenes where the couples opine about marriage, and then jumps to cheap laughs like a yoga teacher dry humping one of the woman.

As much as the script tries to be hip, it comes out being extremely flat, and again, awkward. Why the heck would you have a ex-high school football star mutter a computer simile when you have a video game producer and a Powerpoint junkie standing next to him? For a screenplay that has already forgone the "show, don't tell" rule, I found the script to be woefully inadequate.

It is no surprise then that the film had no idea how to end itself, other then by having Veronica Mars strip down to a bikini after sipping some mystery coconut drink.