Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Four Christmases
“You can’t spell families without lies,” says Brad (Vince Vaughn). Where did that come from? His dad. Now I see why he develops such values on family.
“There’s nothing wrong with taking a vacation on a vacation,” says Kate (Reese Witherspoon), and in order to do that, they need to lie to their families.
Guess what?
That’s what they did, for the past 3 Christmases. They both lied to reject their families’ invitation to celebrate this important day in the year and went holidaying themselves, in the name of doing charitable work in third-world countries like inoculating children against diseases at Burma. The point is: neither of them feels guilty for doing so. After all, their philosophy is you can’t spell families without lies, right?
Honesty triumphs ultimately. But what best way to get busted then to be on national TV? I remember how funny Brad’s poker face is when he’s caught on TV. Not once, but actually, twice. You know why that happens? Because until one has learnt his/her lesson, the same or similar incident will continue to happen in his/her life. Apparently, they haven’t learnt the virtue of being honest with their families!
OK, I like this movie.
Not because it makes me laugh in certain parts, but because it makes me think as the plot progresses to something deeper than those weird events unfolding as Brad and Kate end up visiting his father, her mother, his mother and her father on one day.
The way in which relationships have been played out truly intrigues me. What we can see on the surface usually doesn’t tell what we feel deep within us, until and unless it gets triggered by an event. As Brad and Kate learn about each other’s deepest darkest childhood secret, they didn’t realise that they are already embarking on a journey that is about to bring them to another level in their relationship. While Kate realises that early and is actually touched about that fact, Brad chickens out and wants things to remain unchanged.
Don’t we see couples like this so many times in real life? When two people get together, it’s usually because they have both agreed on certain conditions on how their relationships should be. But, circumstances change. So when one party decides to change the rules, they can’t blame their partners for refusing to stick with them and move ahead to a territory which they have initially agreed never to step into.
Do they get disappointed? Certainly. Do they get their hearts broken? Absolutely. But can they force their partners to be with them? Definitely no. It takes two to tango in a relationship, and that’s why connection is so important.
Connection not just with your spouse, but also with your parents and siblings and their children. How do we get keep this connection going on, and how do we enhance the connection with each other? The only way is through constant and never-ending communication. The question then comes: What do we communicate? Haven’t we seen many cases of trouble brewing because couples thought they were communicating when in actual fact, they are critising and putting each other down then conveying their concerns and expressing their love and appreciation?
When Kate and Brad think they are the most gelled couple, the game Taboo just lays their serious lack of understanding of each other on the table, completely bare.
There are many life lessons that one can derive from this movie. For this reason alone, I say this is a show not to be missed.
Plus, Vaughan and Witherspoon’s onscreen chemistry gives the added worth to your dollar as they not only celebrate the most number of Christmases on one day, they also celebrated the longest day in their life together.