The holiday family comedy has become as ubiquitous in November as Oscar contenders, and Four Christmases falls comfortably into this escapist category. Families can attend these movies together, collectively laugh about how stressful it is to spend Christmas with each other, receive a reassuring message about the importance of their nearest and dearest that’s as gooey as fruitcake, then let out a collective sigh and trudge on through to New Year’s Day.

What sets Four Christmases apart is that it actually views the holiday as an endurance race, filled with the kind of emotional obstacles Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) have studiously avoided in their three years together. It’s not the ridiculously heightened expectations that bother them, but dealing with the fall-out of acrimonious divorces, the subsequent choices of their parents, and their passive-aggressive (sometimes just plain aggressive) siblings.

Seth Gordon, who directed the great documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007), makes his feature film debut with the brisk, event-filled Four Christmases. After uncovering pathos and triumph in competitive Donkey Kong, Gordon knows how to mine minutiae for comedic gold, and he draws out the details that make the seemingly secure Brad and Kate hesitant to revisit their childhood selves, let alone reveal those long-buried embarrassments to each other.

From their home base of San Francisco, where an inconvenient fog has spoiled their plans for a flight to Fiji, Brad and Kate hit the road in their Land Rover for four Christmases in one day, driven by guilt and obligation. The desert ranch house where Brad’s macho father Howard (Robert Duvall) raised his bullying, wrestler brothers Denver (Jon Favreau) and Dallas (Tim McGraw) couldn’t be further from the airy retreat in Marin his mother Paula (Sissy Spacek) calls home.

Likewise, the cougar den overseen by Kate’s mother Marilyn (Mary Steenburgen) is stripped of any trappings of a commercial Christmas, while the traditional home of her father Creighton (Jon Voight) is the model of a winter wonderland. But nothing quite prepares the shaky couple for the barn-like revival hall where Pastor Phil (Dwight Yoakam) stages a rousing nativity play, and Brad takes on the role of the modest Joseph like he’s starring in a one-man Jesus Christ Superstar.

Amid familial encounters where barely sublimated cutthroat competition reigns, Kate's assertively vivacious sister Courtney (Kristin Chenoweth) is the sharp-tongued Queen Bee; everything that comes out of her mouth contains a dollop of honey and a stinger loaded with venom. (King of Kong fans may notice a familiar figure by her side: that's soft-spoken science teacher Steve Wiebe playing Courtney's quietly suffering husband.)

But despite all the scene-stealing supporting players, Four Christmases is tailor-made to show off the towering Vince Vaughn and diminutive Reese Witherspoon, ebbing and flowing with their characters’ neuroses. Their peculiar strain of Type A chemistry, along with great timing and comedic teamwork, makes this Christmas cracker really pop.

© 2008, Serena Donadoni. All rights reserved.

Director: Seth Gordon | Writers: Matt R. Allen & Caleb Wilson and Jon Lucas & Scott Moore | Story by Matt R. Allen and Caleb Wilson | Cinematography: Jeffrey L. Kimball | Music: Alex Wurman | Production Design: Shepherd Frankell | Costume Design: Sophie de Rakoff | Editing: Mark Helfrich and Melissa Kent | Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jonathan Glickman | Released by Warner Bros. | Running time: 89 minutes | Rated PG-13

Cast: Vince Vaughn (Brad aka Orlando), Reese Witherspoon (Kate), Robert Duvall (Howard), Jon Favreau (Denver), Kathy Mixon (Susan), Tim McGraw (Dallas), Sissy Spacek (Paula), Patrick Van Horn (Darryl), Jon Voight (Creighton), Mary Steenburgen (Marilyn), Kristin Chenoweth (Courtney), Steve Wiebe (Jim), Dwight Yoakam (Pastor Phil), and Peter Billingsley (Ticket Agent).