In the past, Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn have shared their screen time in classic films like ‘Rudy’ and ‘Swingers.’ Their recent work, however, has resorted to sub-par humor efforts that are uncharacteristic to their previous success.

Now in their first venture as writing partners, ‘Couples Retreat’ marks the sixth time these actors have worked together. By adding to an over populated list of actors with Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell, ‘Couples Retreat’ still manages to fall in the dreadful category of second-rate entertainment.

Much like the very popular ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall,’ ‘Couples Retreat’ follows a group of couples to a paradise resort in hopes of suppressing their recent relationship woes. As they partake in skill building activities that push them towards frustration rather than solace, ‘Couples Retreat’ tells the cluttered story of how so many people mismanage their relationships.

In an attempt to show the various states of relationship stress, it doesn’t help when all of the cast members turn in their weakest and most forgettable performances to date. Shooting in Bora Bora must have been a huge selling point for these actors. It certainly explains why they signed up for such awful roles in the first place. Many of these typically talented actors seem out of place for the majority of the film as they portray characters that are shallow, selfish, and detached from any part of our own lives. While they all exhibit problems that any married couple can have, there’s nothing to characteristically denote one from the other.

Aside from the distant characters and recycled jokes seen in nearly every other couples comedy, the only passable moments in ‘Couples Retreat’ are once again the ad-libbed scenes between Vaughn and Favreau. Sadly, this once funny commodity now sticks out like a sore thumb. After so much nonsense that could have better served the cutting room floor, it’s unclear how much longer the Vaughn-Favreau comedic routine is going to last.

The only real winners of this film end up being the Rock Band video game and Applebee’s Restaurants. Thanks to non-discreet advertising plugs that disgracefully overtake crucial moments of the film, you’re more likely to remember these moments rather than anything you saw before it. With all of the gorgeous surroundings featured in the cinematography of Bora Bora, it’s a shock they didn’t mention the vastly superior film-making efforts of The Travel Channel.