The Foursome (2006) User Reviews

THIS IS NOT A RUG

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 16 July 2018]

During a 20 year class reunion, 4 friends and their spouses/girlfriend get together for a few days and reminiscence about old times and talk about what they are doing today. Much of the film is four guys talking on the golf course with formula slapstick comedy. The girls all get together and are envious of the 22 year old wife.

The film was rather trite. The ending brings things together in an attempt to make it into a feel good romance, but lands short of the cup.

Guide No swearing or nudity. Near sex.

Coming of middle-age picture could be subtler

[ralpheous · 5/10 · 22 November 2006]

This film wasn't bad, but it's far from great. Except for the nudity and coarse language, it felt more like a movie of the week than a feature. The characters were portrayed well enough by the cast, but they were pretty 2-dimensional. Donnie was your typical fat guy buffoon character, with the exception that he and his wife mate like bunnies. I kept wanting the guy playing Ted to turn into Crispin Glover in a bad wig. Except for the trophy wife, the female characters were practically interchangeable (although Rick's wife seemed to be more of an age with the trophy wife than with the other two. The message of the film, while nice, was nothing new and the script didn't deliver it with any subtlety.

This golf movie is way of out bounds

[illsmart56-1 · 1/10 · 23 May 2007]

This is another 20-minute rental. Even at that, you wonder why it took you so long to hit the OFF button. The only reason I even rented this stinker is because it involved golf. Four buddies get together for a college reunion and a round of golf. The reunion sets up one 'hilarious' moment and gives you a peak at the heroes and their lives. The golf just gives them a reason to drink and complain. When are they going to give actors a golf lesson before casting them in a golf movie. The on-course action was somewhat realistic, just not funny or entertaining. The duffer duffed, the stud hit bombs away and the foils were predictably foiled. The reunion stuff had been done far better in any number of movies, not all of those good. For four best friends, there seemed no camaraderie at all. And yet, this movie was not bad enough to even make fun of. And certainly not good enough to watch for very long. Do yourself a favor -- rent Golf Balls instead. At least, while the jokes are lame, the women are hot.

Poor representation of the original

[seetacat · 2/10 · 25 June 2007]

As someone who has performed Norm Foster's The Foursome on stage, I was intrigued to see a movie version of the play. I was very disappointed in the result. I enjoy Norm's work and it is always well received by audiences.

This play doesn't represent Norm's work at all and very much of the material that is enjoyed by the live audience was deleted. The female characters are much larger and more interesting when left to the audience's imagination. Not that I was disappointed with the ladies performances, they did the best they could with what they had! It is really too bad that this movie couldn't be more true to the play.

Pretty bad movie...

[jocedeg · 2/10 · 17 January 2007]

For my part, this movie is a waste of time. The tone goes from semi-comic to slapstick and the characters are all stereotypes: a clumsy fat guy, a bitter, aging, alcoholic millionaire, a sexually frustrated salesman and the playboy con-man. The main problem is that these four guys don't even look like they're very close in age, but they are supposed to be university buddies.

The movie's production values seem very low: the golf course look more like a big park. Most of the time, you see them swing but it doesn't feel like there's a ball on the grass. Amateur stuff all the way.

But the biggest problem is that none of the characters are very sympathetic to begin with.

The wives don't bring a lot to the story, except more stereotypical banter that sound more like 90's talk than actual 2005 realities.

All the jokes fall flat.

There's even an embarrassing "stunt" sequence that features the worst "matched-to-the-actress" stunt woman in history doing the worst bit of stunt driving you could imagine: if you have the courage the see this movie, your jaw will drop when you get to that sequence ! All these little details completely took me out of the movie.

As for the acting, Dillon is in "Entourage" mode and the unknown around him act like sitcom extras.

Maybe they tried to get a "Big Chill for the New Millennium" feel, but it doesn't connect with me, a guy who's about their age. They even insert a painfully "cliché" gay character who is completely ridiculous, but in a way, that's OK: he's just as bad as the rest of the characters.

Bad movie based on a bad play.

Skip !

Nothing funny or clever here

[no_spm_brazil · 18 August 2007]

In a nutshell: bad clichés, recycled jokes, bad characters. Nothing really to see here. Not the worst movie ever, but in the genre of golf comedies...maybe?

If you've ever golfed you will have heard every joke, and if not, well...probably not funny. Even the other jokes and skits same old recycled jokes you might hear from a middle school kid. So much for originality.

Otherwise, not a lot of substance here so not much else to comment on. In fact, this is the only time I've ever struggled to fill the minimum 10 lines of text.

Omg

[solidabs · 1/10 · 17 September 2020]

I hate saying this is the worst movie I've ever seen. There's just so many horrible movies.. Hollyweird is just a cesspool of trashy films. Anyway this movie is just awful. Anyone giving this a rating over a 2 is a dolt.

Additions Take Away from Film

[Bologna King · 6/10 · 30 May 2007]

Norm Foster is Canada's most popular playwright, and The Foursome one of his more popular plays. It's a play that presents a good opportunity for a screen adaptation, but is a challenging play to adapt. The play takes place exclusively at the tee of each of the eighteen holes of a golf course, involves only four characters and consists almost entirely of dialogue. A film using the play as a screenplay would be dull indeed, as the audience expects the film to use its ability to show us different scenes and more complex action to tell the story.

This screenplay fails to translate the play effectively to the screen, and for two main reasons. First, the play is an ensemble work--the merciless macho banter of the golfers touches nerves in all four characters and forces them to justify their lives. Here there is a focus on the character of Rick which skews the balance among the characters. Second, the adapter has added the characters of the golfers' wives and invented subplots and interactions among them, added a gay course marshal, added a chase scene involving golf carts and added an extra 18 holes of golf. None of these additions help the real point of the story which is the exposure of the reality of the golfers' lives (often kept as carefully guarded secrets). While making room for all of this rubbish, the screenwriter has cut away plot point after plot point from the stage play, effectively gutting the characters, especially Ted, Donnie and Cam, and leaving empty caricatures. At the same time the carefully laid foundations in the play have been so eroded that the characters' actions (and especially the denouement) seem arbitrary rather than natural for them. For an example, in the play we hear that Rick gave Donnie a wedgie at the reunion. Instead of showing us this incident, which tells us a lot about Rick and Donnie and their relationship, and which would be effective cinematically, the whole event disappears. Bits of Foster's dialogue float to the surface from time to time but usually missing context and sometimes missing the punchline. An exception is Rick's plan to sell Brazilian Pepper Trees which arrives intact and hilarious.

Considering the weak script, the actors made a reasonably good job of this. I was particularly impressed with Paul Jarrett's Ted (the role Foster himself played in the theatrical debut) and with Nicole Oliver as Cam's wife Lori. Production values were mostly solid throughout. I thought the opening titles, though clever, were a little hard to read.

Generally this was a squandered opportunity to do a really good adaptation of a very good play. A pity.

Foursome...try Awesome!

[watsonline · 9/10 · 13 August 2008]

I was absolutely enamored from the word "Go" with this gem. Not so much for the sporting aspect, as I am not a good golfer myself, nor even for the chops and professionalism K-Dill brings to the ensemble effort.

What grasped me more was the REALNESS of this straight to video (should be called "Theater Owner's loss")slice of life. This film is very Canadian, from Production to the stars its drenched in Maple Syrup and Gray skies, so one must allow for a bit of that Canadian "off-beat" humor. The kind where you don't so much laugh as wish they'd try the joke with a different punchline.

The characters are amazingly detailed, starting with Kevin Dillon's Schmuck-with-a-heart-of-gold Rick Foster. Rick's a man's man, ripping up the lynx with the same vigor with which he pursues any piece of tail. This is the first time since THE BLOB that Dillon was given a chance to lead the show. After this display, someone owes the man a 20-year-old apology. Ironically, Ricky-Boy really just wants to be as settled down as his buddies are.

Speaking of that group, the affable Paul Jarrett steals the show as booze sponge Ted, an alcoholic with a trophy wife, penchant for canned beer and a rug that would make any Persian a bit envious. For all those pluses, Jarrett does a great job showing us just how much pain "Ted" is in as he reflects on his life amidst a Spaulding Smails-esquire run of finishing random drinks and cutting up the fairways.

Chris Gauthier's performance as the fat fool Donnie Spencer cements his place as one of the Great White North's up-and-coming oddballs. His whacky, colorful golf uniforms and awkward interactions with the faggotty Southern (though its in British Columbia)course manager and his awful pink popped color. If that role didn't do it, I cannot see it taking much more to get Gauthier the lead in a Canuck sitcom no one will find humorous.

Last but not least is the 2-headed attack of "Cameron" (John Shaw) and wife "Lori" (Nicole Oliver), the "Towers." Cam is a lovable loser, stringy and goofy as his wife is gross and sweaty. He comes through in the end, however, to prove the guy that appears to have all the problems really has things under more control than even he realizes.

Oliver's performance (you may be asking yourself, "Is that that great big fat woman from "KRYPTO, The SUPER-DOG?" fame). Yes. One and the same...though hats are off to Oliver for shedding the sitcom image and her clothes (though, unfortunately, not many pounds)to run amok looking like a Renaissance-era nude model. You know, when looking pregnant or gluttonous was seen as sexy and ideal. Now before any feminists say "that's right", put down the Iced Caramel Mocha latte with Cream, Sprinkles and 7 packets of sugar, cow. Its 2008 and only men are allowed to be fat.

All in all this is one that should be hoisted to the rafters and celebrated. If it wasn't so damn Canadian, it would be a serious threat to any AFI top-this-or-that list. Kudos, Mr. Dilon and company. Kudos.

Surprisingly effective golf comedy

[p-gonzo · 7/10 · 9 January 2007]

I saw a close-to-final cut of this movie and was pleasantly impressed. It is pretty unassuming but manages to touch on that yuppie reunion drama-comedy niche without being overly cloying. Kevin Dillon pulls off the misfit with the heart of gold character and is able to carry the film. The nudity is fairly mild and not particularly exploitive -- you gotta commend a 40-ish, non-svelte actress for being willing to trounce around naked on a golf course at night! Plus the movie has got its share of genuine chuckles and a few good laughs (which is more than you can say for a lot of outright so-called comedies). Golfers will enjoy it but anyone could do a lot worse for a rental.

A Family Friendly Raunchy Film

[nammage · 6/10 · 16 October 2020]

(No real spoilers. I always mark it that way...)

Just because you have a few American actors in a film, doesn't make it a Hollywood film. Case in point: this is a Canadian film. Filmed in Canada by Canadian production companies. If one has seen enough Canadian productions, they can actually tell the difference. It took me awhile to get British humor when I first started watching British film/tv series and the same goes with Canadian humor which is vastly different from American and British humor. The one thing that almost all Comedies from Canada have that American/British do not have: overtly cliché lines and phrases used as if they're not cliché at all. Like it's the natural lexicon of Canadian vocabulary.

This film comes off as if it'd be raunchy but it's not. The title, the older wives always checking out the body of the younger wife. The overall settings making it seem as if something raunchy is about to happen but doesn't, or does it? From a Canadian perspective: it probably is raunchy. Raunchy for a Canadian. A family friendly raunchy film. Only a Canadian can make a film like that. And that's what this film is and you have to watch it in that light; otherwise, you're just expecting too much. And there are funny scenes but in that particular light.

Now, it's not a great film but it's not an awful film, either. Do the ages of the actors playing the male characters really match up? No. The oldest was born in 1961 and the youngest was born in 1976 (being 9 years old in 1985 when they all graduated college.) That is a detractor, no doubt, but overall, I still enjoyed the film.

Yes, based on the title and the synopsis of the film I was expecting raunchy and it's there just wasn't expecting the family-friendly aspect of it. But still, it's not too bad but if you're expecting one thing and getting the direct opposite, I can see how that would make seeing this film a disappointment.

Affable comedy

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 17 December 2013]

Four middle-aged friends get back together at their 20th anniversary college reunion. The quartet are immediately challenged to participate in a high stakes game of golf for cash. Director William Dear, working from a blithely lightweight script by Jackson Davies, relates the enjoyable story at a brisk pace, nicely captures the competitive male spirit, and maintains an engaging good-natured toner throughout. Moreover, the humor is refreshingly bereft of any nasty cynicism and has an appealingly upbeat'n'breezy sensibility to it. Better yet, there are touching moments of real heart and camaraderie amid all the laughs. The leads display a loose and natural chemistry: Kevin Dillon as smooth hustler Rick Foster, John Shaw as worrywart Cameron Towers, Chris Gauthier as the sweet bumbler Donnie Spencer, and Paul Jarrett as cocky rich dude Ted Renton. The luscious Siri Baruc delivers a winning blend of spark and sexiness as Ted's hot young trophy babe wife Karen. Nicole Oliver likewise does well as Cameron's snarky spouse Lori. Ron Williams' slick cinematography provides an attractive bright look. Chris Ainscough's jaunty score keeps things bubbling along. A pleasant little romp.

very warm movie destined to become a classic reunion movie for anyone who attended high school in the 80's

[afterlife-2 · 10/10 · 5 November 2006]

The movie follows four high school friends who also happen to have attended college together. They all go and meet at a golf course for their 20 year reunion to find that Not much has changed in each others personality. One friend has become a well off computer store owner with a drinking problem and "20 something wife", one has become a somewhat of a schiester played by Kevin Dillon and one works for a television station and the last works in a hard wear department. Throughout their ordeal at the reunion they get into arguments over past problems and new ones. They begin to play a round of golf for money and Kevin Dhillon and Chris Gauthier win the first round. Upset the other two friends decide to challenge them to a second round the following morning. The climax comes at this point when the four friends become enraged over some secrets which came out from college and the night before involving one of the men's wives. The men reconcile their differences and play the game of golf with he other two friends played by Paul Jarrett and John Shaw winning this round to even the score. Ends with a playful rendition of Bryan Adaam's "18 til i die"