Christmas comedies have gone by the wayside recently and all attempts to create a new angle on the comedic holiday story have gone flat. Four Christmases is no exception.

One Christmas was plenty to get the gist of Four Christmases -- a holiday comedy that slaps together a dated comedic framework with a redundant screenplay.

In the film, Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are a couple who avoid spending Christmas with their divorced families each year by making up excuses that entail charity work in impoverished countries, when in truth, they go to luxurious resort destinations.

This time, the couple cannot avoid their families because their flight to Fiji is canceled and they end up on the news as stranded passengers. This revelation forces Kate and Brad to meet up with each of their divorced parents for Christmas, hence the film's title.

It is a disappointment that a cast spotted with Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen and Reese Witherspoon can fail so miserably. Witherspoon was the greatest disappointment since her spot-on performances in films like Legally Blonde and Walk the Line lend for higher expectations.

However, even the acting elite could not turn this screenplay around. There was little for them to work with in this regard. Even Vince Vaughn, with the exception of a few brief scenes, failed to elicit the humor needed to carry the film.

The structure of Four Christmases lacked creativity and relied heavily on farcical clichés to get laughs, another let down for Vince Vaughn fans after last year's failed Fred Claus.

Similarly to the failures of last year's movie, Four Christmases failed to make the family moments poignant and balance it with the comedic sketches. The film also rushes to the ending, making it an even more incoherent mess.

This hokey comedy is not a fun way to rein in the holidays, but more of an inhibitor to the season's spirit.

Grade: D