Couple's Retreat - Dave and Ronnie

I recently saw the movie “Couples Retreat”, a hilarious film about 4 couples who attend a retreat at a tropical island resort.  If you haven’t seen it you can get a decent plot summary here

I want to focus on one of the couples in particular, Dave and Ronnie (played by Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman).  They are supposed to portray the average, old fashioned, married couple: Dave is a working class man, a videogame salesman, while Ronnie is a stay at home mom caring for their two kids.  When their friends Jason and Cynthia ask them to go to the couples retreat with them, Dave and Ronnie both agree that they can’t go for various reasons, most importantly that both Dave and Ronnie agree they have no need for therapy, their marriage is fine, and they truly love each other. 

Obviously they end up going on the trip, otherwise there would be no movie, but upon arriving at the island they are shocked, and quite pissed, to see that therapy sessions are not optional, which was the reason why they decided to go on the retreat.  They begrudgingly attend these sessions, still convinced that no major issues exist in their marriage.  However, to their surprise the therapist uncovers some real issues that prevent Dave and Ronnie from truly loving each other, issues that they are forced to talk about and deal with throughout the movie.  In the end, Dave admits to his wife that they have a million problems, but that is life! He tells her that no marriage is perfect, that they will have their problems and that they won’t solve all of them, and that’s ok.  What is important is that they never forget the commitment that they made to themselves and to their families.  This is an incredibly beautiful moment where love is portrayed not as sex, pleasure, or fun, but as commitment!

           

This retreat was a sort of examination of conscience for Dave and Ronnie.  They took a period of time, though unexpected, to examine what is good and bad in their relationship and to renew their commitment to each other.  Should we not do the same in our own relationship with God?  Through a simple examination of conscience each day we may discover things that, like Dave and Ronnie, may be stopping our relationship with God from truly growing.  This examination of conscience is very simple: just take a few minutes before bed and think about some positives and negatives that happened throughout the day.  At the end of the reflection make the same promise to God that Dave made to Ronnie: acknowledge that there will always be problems in the relationship, but promise to work hard and renew the commitment that you made to God in your baptism.

PS…if you liked this movie, keep checking in…analysis of the other 3 couples in the movie will be coming soon!