ROGER MOORE - MOVIE REVIEWS COUPLES RETREAT

MOVIE REVIEWS COUPLES RETREAT

It's probably a good thing that Couples Retreat has the weekend to itself as the only movie opening wide. Critics are saying that the only thing funny about this romantic comedy are a few one-liners and the only thing romantic about it is the setting on the island of Bora Bora. "Despite the exotic locale, the film is drab and plodding," writes Claudia Puig in USA Today . Lou Lumenick in the New York Post calls it a "schmaltzy, smutty and mean-spirited quasi-satire set in a touchy-feely New Age resort." Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel concludes that the movie was only made "because of its sunny, sandy location." Judging from their light complexions, he also figures that "cast members slept late and took it pretty easy." David Hiltbrand in the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that although the movie is set in Tahiti, the plot is "skimpier than an Ipanema bikini." On the other hand, Peter Howell in the Toronto Star concludes that the movie was never intended to be the riotous comedy that some viewers may have expected it to be, given the trailers for it. "It's not your typical formula rom-com," he writes. "Beneath the ham acting and the relentless banter is a serious movie about relationships. We're being sold laughs, but a few sober thoughts are delivered."

09/10/2009