Four Christmases
Metascore
41 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 27
  3. Negative: 10 out of 27
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  1. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Steve Davis
    30
    This year's entry in this lowly subgenre is Four Christmases, a D-list comedy with A-list actors.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    10
    The movie doesn't offer a single surprise within its scant 82 minutes, which feel like at least twice that.
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    30
    Bad enough to create one of the most joyless Christmas movies ever, but then to go for an unearned feel-good ending adds insult to injury.
  4. NPR
    Reviewed by: Bob Mondello
    30
    Alas, there's scarcely a moment of ingenuity or surprise in this tale of the supremely smug, unmarried-but-made-for-each-other Brad and Kate.
  5. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    88
    Four Christmases works because of some genuinely funny setups, a pace that never dwells on one gag (or even one family) too long and a careful mix of slapstick and bawdy humor. But mostly, the film works because of the astonishing acting talent the filmmakers brought together to make it.
  6. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    Vaughn delivers every line with his usual deadpan glibness, which suits the part. But I smiled as I watched the big-bellied, multi-chinned actor connecting with the porcelain, model-thin Witherspoon.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    We got two gold-record singers and they don't sing? So? We got five Oscar-winning actors, and they don't need to act much.
  8. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Cammila Albertson
    50
    It's well acted and it's entertaining -- and who can resist a movie where Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau are brothers, and Robert Duvall is their dad?
  9. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    50
    The film has its funny moments, but they are too few to make the holiday excursion worthwhile.
  10. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    Four Christmases is waste of time and a disappointment, but it's also relatively painless.
  11. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    38
    A generic oven-stuffer that wants to be a stocking-stuffer, is a turkey, despite the foil wrapping and some artfully deployed tinsel.
  12. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    Four Christmases is essentially "Meet the Parents" quadrupled.
  13. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    25
    As Vaughn's therapist mother, Sissy Spacek comes off best. But she's a rare bird of whom it truly can be said: She's always good. No matter how grim the material.
  14. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    25
    Four Christmases is sour to the point of curdling, a satirical look at the holidays a la "Bad Santa" that does exactly what that film avoided: come off as both off-puttingly misanthropic and gloppily sentimental.
  15. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    25
    This is a movie of excesses that doesn't know when to settle down. It aims to be a slapstick comedy, a romantic comedy and a plain old romance but falls short of each goal.
  16. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    12
    The movie boasts five Oscar winners. That figure exceeds by five the number of times I laughed at this cheap collection of icky jokes.
  17. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    40
    Like the last gift buried under singing Billy Bass fish, dancing Coke cans, joke books and mounds of wrapping paper, there's a glimmer of fun in Four Christmases that almost gets vacuumed up with the tinsel.
  18. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    67
    Crassly enjoyable.
  19. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: M. E. Russell
    67
    It's pleasantly funny, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, from start to finish, even when it's staging broad, easy gags about baby barf and fat kids.
  20. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    42
    Neither clever nor heartwarming, Four Christmases is the coal in the stocking of holiday movies.
  21. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    70
    Gordon's best not-so-secret weapons, though, are his two stars: Vaughn and Witherspoon are an inspired pairing, not least because they're such a mismatched set of salt-and-pepper shakers.
  22. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    70
    Refreshingly tart and lean, forgoing the usual schmaltz and syrup.
  23. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    40
    Oddly misanthropic, occasionally amusing but thoroughly cheerless holiday attraction that is in no way a family film.
  24. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    42
    The result is two bad movies in one: a gimmicky romantic comedy, and one of those seasonal headaches that submits loud family dysfunction as a vehicle for Christmas cheer.
  25. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rick Kisonak
    40
    To put it in the best light possible, I recommend thinking of Four Christmases not so much as a really short movie but as a very special holiday episode of a sitcom.
  26. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Dan Zak
    50
    The only laughs come from Vaughn, a master of ingratiation. Witherspoon is no Roz Russell or Lucille Ball. But she fills space nicely.
  27. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    50
    This is marginally better than most, with a few offbeat comic ideas, a reliably droll performance from Vaughn, and, as the parents, four watchable old troupers in search of a fat paycheck.

User Reviews

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User Score
4.5 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 53 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 24
  3. Negative: 10 out of 24
  1. csw12
    2
    Okay lets begin. The movie's first lets say 15 minutes was okay the rest dreadful and painful. The movie went into low gear after 20 minutes and stayed there the rest of time. Almost feel asleep.… Full Review »
  2. JamesB.
    5
    Not very festive.
  3. ChrisP.
    2
    If watching some nice guy who hasn't really done anything wrong, get the crap beaten out of him by his brothers in his dad's living room while his dad verbally abuses him strikes you as somehow funny, then you might enjoy this movie. I didn't find it funny, and sometimes found it a little upsetting, to be honest. The basic joke in most of the family scenes is: families push your boundaries in inappropriate ways, causing embarrassment. Only, that's not intrinsically funny, it has to be made funny by some kind of wit or twist or surprise, which as far as I can tell is lacking here. The main characters are urban yuppies who don't want to get married or have kids, and maybe you're supposed to hate them, hate them with such a passion that seeing them turned into emotional (and sometimes physical) punching bags is really enjoyable for you, and maybe you're supposed to believe that the urge to marry and have kids is so natural that it will overcome people eventually if they're just exposed to other people's families for a day. Or maybe it's just that the script was put together by four credited writers, and who knows how many uncredited ones, and it just really didn't come together. But if you want to watch comedy about family over the Christmas break, you're better off renting the first two seasons of Arrested Development. Infinitely so.… Full Review »
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