Each of the visits is a set-up for zany, situational humor in which every character is a caricature – over-the-top and highly unlikely to find even in a family full of black sheep. Brad’s cagefighting brothers (Jon Favreau and an underutilized Tim McGraw, in roles for which they are both over-qualified) resent his success and civility, so they necessarily beat him to a pulp on his way in the door while their sons begged to be “tagged in,” providing crotch-kicking shots galore in an effort to illiciting knee-jerk, intellectually devoid, chuckles. During the visit to Kate’s mom’s house, her childhood fear of bounce-houses resurfaces when she’s forced to chase her niece inside of one after the girl steals her used pregnancy test. To satisfy those in the audience who loved watching Brad having his crotch kicked by his nephews, this scene smacks of similar low-brow adult abuse, when Kate is beat up by a bevy of children.
Despite several standout performances (by Vaughn, Witherspoon, an impossibly ageless Mary Steenburgen as Kate’s mom, and a wonderfully crotchety Robert Duvall as Brad’s father), audience members will be laughing despite their intellect, and in the next breath rolling their eyes. Jon Voight brings a sense of sanity to the cast as Kate’s formerly wild but now mellow and wise father – who teaches Kate a lesson about the resiliency of family and adds a heartfelt and down-to-earth element to a movie already in outer space. Still, “Four Christmases” fizzles by about the third trip to the in-laws, when watching Sissy Spacek (as Brad’s mom) make out with a 30-year-old just doesn’t seem funny enough to justify a $10.50 ticket – although it does perhaps justify Brad and Kate’s “No Marriage, No Children” mantra.
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