Review:
"Couples Retreat" offers an all-star cast and lots of laughs. Jason and Cynthia announce that they are on the verge of divorce and want to attend a week-long couples retreat to salvage their marriage. To save money on a package deal, they convince six of their friends to join them with the understanding that the couples activities are optional. The four couples leave the Chicago winter and head to the tropical island of Bora Bora where they soon realize that their participation in therapy and couples exercises are mandatory or they will have to leave the island. Each couple soon discovers that their relationships are not as solid as they thought and they will have to work hard to hold their marriages together.

 

The entire movie offers a variety of marital situations in which a client may easily identify. While the counselors' techniques are not all orthodox, the movie generates great discussion points including identifying bad communication, infidelity, infertility, disagreements, and learning to accept each other. Jason and Cynthia are on rocky terms after a battle with infertility; Dave and Ronnie are parents of two small boys and think their lives are fine until therapy peels away their facade; Joey and Lucy are high school sweet hearts who no longer seem attracted to each other; and recently divorced Shane brings his new twenty-something girlfriend along to discover he cannot keep up with her. Each couple eventually reunites including Shane with his ex-wife, Jennifer, who appears to rekindle their marriage.