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Arts & Entertainment

Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Couples Retreat</em> Vs. <em>An Education</em>

By

John Del Signore

Published Oct 9, 2009

Modified Oct 9, 2009

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Look, we know Couples Retreat—the rom-com about four dysfunctional married couples trying to heal their marriages with a trip to a retreat center in Bora Bora—is going to bite, but we're such suckers for Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, and Jon Favreau that we have no choice but to see it... someday on DVD. Scott Tobias at the Onion has ended any naive hope we still clung to after seeing the trailer: "The marital comedy Couples Retreat features a running gag about a little boy in the midst of potty training who doesn’t always go where it’s appropriate. In a nutshell, that subplot explains everything that’s wrong about the film: Its propensity for barrel-scraping lowbrow gags, its undisciplined, catch-all approach to comedy, and perhaps above all, its chronic inability to focus on what it’s ostensibly about, and cut away the extraneous stuff... Then again, when a movie is all fat, it’s hard to know where to trim."

 

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By

John Del Signore

Published Oct 9, 2009

Modified Oct 9, 2009

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Click on the film stills for more on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which also include An Education, The Damned United, Adventures of Power, Free Style, Good Hair, The Heretics, Peter and Vandy, Yes Men Fix the World, Lisztomania, Bronson, Paranormal Activity, Pretty in Pink, and Sixteen Candles,

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John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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