Vince Vaughn has yet to issue a formal apology for “Fred Claus,” but consider the inoffensive “Four Christmases” a step in the right direction.

The 2008 film, released this week on DVD and Blu-ray for maximum holiday impact, is hardly a lump of coal.

It’s more like an easily digested fruit cake full of nuts. The nuts here happen to be aging Oscar winners who gleefully signed up for this ride through holiday hell.

The few laughs sprinkled throughout are well earned, and the brief running time means there’s little room to debate the film’s merits.

Vaughn and Witherspoon play a pair of self-obsessed yuppies who delight in avoiding their families each Christmas. They pretend to be out helping the poor or some other selfless mission, all the while vacationing in some resort spot far away from prying relatives.

An airline gaffe leaves them stranded, a plot contrivance that forces them spend time with their relatives – all four groups of them. That means a gaggle of parents, step-parents, new uncles, etc., many played by heavy hitters like Robert Duvall, Jon Voight and Sissy Spacek.

The jokes here are broad and plentiful, with the leads more good sports than anything else. But they do resonate on screen despite two very different screen personalities.

And their selfish attraction ends up being sweet, in a way. Sure, they’re only thinking of themselves, but they actually care for each other and that shines through the predictably wacky scenarios

Vaughn’s stream of conscious ramblings still sparkle, and his frequent screen partner Jon Favreau has a blast as a wannabe UFC warrior looking to take on all comers.

Yes, Favreau’s shtick has nothing to do with Christmas, but you’ll chuckle at it all the same.

The film might have salvaged some dignity with a smart, crisp ending. But it offers the kind of pat resolution that would make the writers of “The Love Boat” blush.

“Four Christmases” is as manufactured as “Fred Claus,” but the former aims low and occasionally hits the mark.

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The first time Vince Vaughn teamed up with Jon Favreau they created the guy’s guy classic “Swingers.”

In “Couples Retreat,” the pair have more pressing things on their minds – carpooling, potty training and divorce proceedings.

The new comedy finds the duo, who co-wrote the film along with Dana Fox, facing the kind of problems the “Swingers” characters never dreamed of.

Just don’t expect “Retreat” to go down as a middle age classic of any sort. It’s as lazy as a carefree night in Bora Bora, with only a colorful cast to save itself from utter banality.

“Retreat” follows four couples who, at the behest of one duo on the cusp of divorce, head to Bora Bora for a well deserved vacation.

When they arrive they find the vacation isn’t what they expected. It’s a highly regimented couples program meant to work through relationship problems.

“This looks like a screen saver,” Favreau’s character says, and the gorgeous locales make it feel like the audience is on an all expense paid vacation.

But the program’s rules quickly grate on the couples, and the embattled pair (Jason Batemen, Kristen Bell) seem heading for divorce despite their best efforts.

Director Peter Billingsley – yes, he’s Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” – negotiates the funnier scenes with clocklike precision. But considering the improv potential here, and the fact that Vaughn and Favreau penned the script, we’re left with predictable jokes and surface-level insights into married life.

Any Hollywood hack could write gags around a massage table and yoga session. A few lines hit the mark, like references to Applebee’s as a generic source of tranquility in married life, but they remain the exception here.

Vaughn and Favreau may be pals in real life, but few of the actor pairings here feel genuine. There’s too much going on and too little palpable bonding to think these four couples truly share something more than just a vacation turned sour.

Why not push the envelope on the program’s rigid structure, or give the great Jean Reno better lines – and more screen time – as the program’s eccentric creator?

We do get some laughs, mostly courtesy of Vaughn’s still potent motor mouth. The actor may be getting older, but his comic tic is forever young.

“Couples Retreat” delivers jaw dropping scenery and a cast you’d kill to hang with on a deserted island, but the film isn’t nearly as money as it thinks it is.

(Photo: Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Vince Vaughn, Faizon Love and Kristin Davis star in “Couples Retreat,” a new comedy directed by Peter Billingsley/Universal Pictures)

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