The fact that Couples Retreat had its black actors extracted from international posters has gotten a lot of attention today, but I'd argue that while it's an unclassy move, it's an incident that's threatening to obscure the real issue. The truth is that in the world of Couples Retreat, something much, much worse than the poster controversy happened this weekend, and nobody seems to be saying a thing about it.
Quietly, as Saturday figures were released, the critically reviled comedy passed the $100 million mark -- an impressive hold that indicates that the movie will have no trouble tallying a domestic gross that's well over three times its opening weekend. The makers of Guitar Hero are so psyched right now!
At first I thought that this had to have been Vince Vaughn's best gross since The Break-Up, but I was horrified to learn that the similarly terrible Four Christmases grossed a stealth $120 million last year. (Why didn't we put a stop to that?) Somehow, this is worse than the Paul Blart box office bonanza this past spring. At least you could tell that Kevin James really wanted it. All that the formerly live-wire Vaughn seems to want right now is a paycheck, a vacation, and a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.