'Couples Retreat' (PG-13)(out of four)

"Couples Retreat" is no walk in paradise. In fact, the sophomoric and tedious story of four couples who take a trip to a French Polynesian island to learn how to rekindle their marital bliss is like sitting through the Hawaiian luau that's been overcooked and rehashed one to many times at Disney World.

To top it off, the contrived ending is sweeter than Mai Tai mix and about as genuine as an overpriced souvenir glass.

Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, who starred in "Swingers" together and wrote the screenplay for "Couples Retreat" with Dana Fox ("What Happens in Vegas"), are two of the four "other halves" who accompany their wives to a place called Eden Resorts, a sun-drenched adventure couples getaway in Bora Bora.

Vaughn (Dave) is married to Malin Ackerman (playing Ronnie, and again doing her best Cameron Diaz imitation). Kristin Davis ("Sex and the City") is Favreau's wandering-eye wife, Lucy. Jason Bateman (Jason) teams with Kristen Bell (Cynthia) as the "couple on the verge of a nervous break up," who convince their married pals to join them on the re-energizing trip. The more couples that join in, the better the group discount. Finally, Faizon Love is Shane, the newly divorced friend who brings his 20-year-old girlfriend, Trudy, (Kali Hawk) along.

The couples are resistant at first to Jason and Cynthia's urging. It's only after Jason breaks into Dave's house and almost becomes a fatal statistic at the hands of the gun-toting suburban house dad that everyone decides it's a good idea to go. (One really has nothing to do with the other, but it's a way to create a very tense scene.)

When they arrive on the island, the boys' dreams of jet skiing and the girls' dreams of sunning and spa treatments (stereotypical suburbanites? you betcha), are dashed when they learn that the 6 a.m. morning routine is yoga, fresh fruit, and marriage counseling. All this is led by island guru Monsieur Marcel (Jean Reno), an expert at "couples' whispering."

Those who make their living counseling couples will cringe at the techniques employed by therapists played by John Michael Higgins, who snickers at his patients' revelations, and Ken Jeong, who is so much of a crackpot he should be the one on the couch.

Filmed at the luxurious St. Regis Bora Bora Resort, behind the camera is none other than Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from "A Christmas Story") who has a brilliant eye for the cool blue waters of the Tahitian island, but not much else. Billingsley probably could have chosen more wisely for a film to make his feature debut.

"Couples Retreat" believes it can get laughs from a recurring joke about a toddler who doesn't realize the toilet model in Home Depot doesn't have real working plumbing, an ill-timed erection during a spa treatment, and a Fabio-type yoga teacher (Carlos Ponce) who simulates sex with the wives and the husbands. The humor is as thin as Fabio's Speedo and just as transparent.