To start off, "Four Christmases" follows a very agonizing Christmas for Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon), a fun-loving couple from San Fransisco, which challenges the stereotypical setting of snow-filled New York City.
The 83 minutes of the movie goes by fast with only approximately 15 minutes of movie time per house celebration, making it very hard to even remember the numerous amount of unique family members. In fact, unless you are consciously looking for country singer Tim McGraw, it’s almost impossible to notice that he makes a cameo as Brad’s pro-wrestling brother who painfully strangles him for fun.
Vaughn fortunately sticks to what he does best, making funny faces as he gets beaten up by his brothers and making rude remarks about his stubborn father and Kate’s racy sister Courtney. Witherspoon plays his faithful sidekick, and overall had decent chemistry with Vaughn. However, Witherspoon unsuccessfully attempts physical comedy as she painfully tries to chase down her 7-year-old niece who steals her pregnancy test. Yet, Witherspoon saves herself with the retort, "You know, I peed on that."
But one thing’s always the same: the main characters are quite humiliated, lacking the usual holiday cheer.