Three years into their relationship, they remain uninterested in marriage or children, preferring to role-play as strangers, take dance lessons for the fun of it, and avoid their dysfunctional families by traveling abroad "for charity work".

They are unexpectedly interviewed by a television news crew, notifying their families that their holiday plans are now canceled, and forcing them to visit all four of their divorced parents in one day.

Brad's expensive gifts for the family lead to more tension, while his out-of-control nephews and pregnant sister-in-law Susan leave Kate uncertain whether she does want children.

At a church service led by Marilyn's boyfriend Pastor Phil, Brad gets carried away and humiliates Kate when they are forced to play Mary and Joseph in the Christmas pageant.

A game of Taboo with Paula, Darryl, Denver, and Susan further strains Brad and Kate's relationship, leading to an argument in the car about their future together.

Prior to Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon's casting, it was announced that Spyglass Entertainment had set Adam Shankman to direct for Columbia Pictures.

They just embody whatever plot machination the movie needs at any given moment", and that, "Every predictable Christmas-comedy trope gets dragged out like the string of electric lights that is pulled from the wall to whipsaw through the living room".

[13] It then went on to take the top spot each successive day from Thursday to Sunday, earning $46.1 million and ranking #1 over the entire extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Four Christmases: Music from the Motion Picture was originally available to download from Amazon (MP3) or iTunes (MPEG-4), along with a digital booklet in portable document format which summarizes the credits of the album along with screenshots and other promotional images of the film.