Couples Retreat
Universal Pictures | Release Date: October 9, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
23
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
7
Negative:
18
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Thanks to Vaughn, Favreau, and the stray sharp lines that pop out of everyone else, the film at least offers the lively sound of egos that still know how to swing. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Despite being mediocre and largely forgettable, Couples Retreat is not unpleasant, although it's easier to recommend it for home viewing than for a trip to a theater. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
In Couples Retreat, it's Favreau, not Vaughn, who is wound up, and this vacation comedy goes nowhere. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
A good idea for a sophisticated comedy lurks within the latest Jon Favreau-Vince Vaughn collaboration, Couples Retreat, but the filmmakers lack the courage of their convictions. So the payoff is mixed at best. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Among the better things in the movie, I count Vaughn's well-timed and smart dialogue. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The results are boring boring. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
The story and the humor get progressively skimpier than an Ipanema bikini. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
You'll have a few laughs, for sure. Just don't expect to enjoy yourself as much as everybody on screen. Read full review
40
VarietyDennis Harvey
Those involved got to spend weeks at a Bora Bora luxury resort; all we get is this not lousy but unmemorable tropical-vacation comedy. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Tedious, unromantic, sophomoric and only sporadically funny. Read full review
35
NPRMark Jenkins
First-time feature director Peter Billingsley could have enlivened the action with more vigorous editing. Everything takes too long, and the slapstick sequences are particularly lethargic. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
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. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyNick Pinkerton
The movie’s cumulative idea is that, forgetting the delusions of midlife panic, this is all there is, you’re already living the best possible life -- a message of sedentary wisdom betrayed when the actual film is as undeniably dreary as a plate of gummy Chicken Parmesan Tanglers. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
A more helpful title for this date movie would have been Couples, Retreat! Read full review
30
Washington PostDan Zak
Coasts on comic fumes, relying on colloquialisms, foreign accents, racial stereotypes, lemon sharks, Speedos and inopportune erections to supply the funny. Any one of these things might work in a comedy that was less contrived. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
It is absolutely, inexcusably terrible. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Everything about Couples Retreat feels plastic, though: the jokes, the trees, the extras, the attitudes. It’s dumbed-down entertainment aimed at a dumbed-down audience - the comedy equivalent of a McMansion. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The cast got to spend a month shooting on Bora Bora. So that explains why they're in the movie. Why you'd spend good money for a ticket to watch them have all the fun and not have any fun yourself passes understanding. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Finds it as impossible to locate a laugh in glittering Bora Bora as it was for Operation Enduring Freedom to nail Osama bin Laden in gritty Tora Bora. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
Too bad the movie is spoiling the view. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Here's the title: Couples Retreat. And here's the review: Couples, Retreat. Yep, just find the verb, treat it as a command, and vamoose, unless you harbour an abiding curiosity about how eternally long 100 minutes can feel. Read full review
20
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Neither funny nor honest. The exact opposite of a retreat, it's merely exhausting. Read full review
20
Time OutKeith Uhlich
It’s too easy to say that Peter Billingsley shot his eye out with this inept comic trifle, but…well, he shot his eye out. Read full review
10
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
An R-rated version of this mess would be only more gratingly dishonest as it tried to hide its weak sentimentality behind a fig leaf of vulgarity. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Intelligence is insulted at every turn in this new date movie. Read full review
0
New York PostLou Lumenick
A schmaltzy, smutty and mean-spirited quasi-satire. Read full review
0
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
It's the audience for this film that will require therapy. Read full review
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