Four Christmases (2008/New Line/Warner Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture: B-/C+/C
Sound: B/B- Extras: D Film: D
In another bad Christmas movie, Vince Vaughn and Reese
Witherspoon play characters who have a meet cute and
get married, but are never believable or convincing for one second in the
amazingly phony Seth Gordon (King Of
Kong) comedy Four Christmases. Felling longer than the four years the actual
title would suggest, stuffing it all in one day to deal with divorced parents
and a large dysfunctional family. That
too is never funny or convincing.
Essentially, Vaughn and Witherspoon are playing themselves
and count on that working via the star system, but it never rings true and
Vaughn strikes out again a year after the lame Fred Claus. Witherspoon
would have been better off doing a Legally Blonde Christmas Special with
Vaughn. Sometimes condescending, always
dull, this is one film that lands like a coal in you stocking and is another
reason airports and airlines need to improve their . Bah humbug.
The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot
on film, but looks surprisingly bad throughout with softness and noise that
makes watching it a very trying experience.
The DVD version’s anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is even worse and
we get an especially bad pan & scan 1.33 X 1 version that is makes no sense
to include as analog TV is on the way out.
Wow, is this lame.
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is not great, but
is by default, the highlight of both releases and the most technically
competent of both. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix in both formats is weaker as expected, but holds a decent soundfield for
what is here (music score, occasionally sweetened sound effects) and on the pan
& scan 1.33 X 1 version has its limited soundfield further diminished.
Extras are only on the Blu-ray and include a Gag Reel, Four Christmases: Holiday Moments, Seven-Layer Holiday Meals In A Flash and
Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, BD Live interactivity.
- Nicholas Sheffo
