A dysfunctional family is a functional formula for a Christmas comedy, and so "Four Christmases" takes advantage of the high American divorce rate to up the ante on uncomfortable holiday visits. This shrill and slightly bawdy film just gets by owing to a watchable cast and a short running time.

The very modern premise is that Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are a blissfully unmarried and childless couple who have lucrative jobs in San Francisco, enjoy its nightclubs, and do not enjoy visiting their families. In fact, they haven't gone home for Christmas during the three years they've been together as a couple.

Their crass strategy is to tell their families that they're flying off to troubled spots around the globe in order to do charity-related volunteer work during the holiday season. Actually, they fly off to sun-drenched resorts and totally avoid their pesky, dysfunctional families living around San Francisco.

Brad and Kate are planning to visit Fiji this Christmas, but they have a nightmarish situation at the airport when they discover that all flights have been cancelled owing to weather-related reasons, a TV news team pounces on them for a live interview with stranded airline customers, their respective families see the TV news report, and suddenly Brad and Kate realize they must brace themselves for the dreaded family visits.

Doing the math, they figure they can visit all four of their divorced parents on the same northern California trip. The movie therefore is divided into clearly defined segments that might as well be sitcom installments as handled by director Seth Gordon ("The King of Kong").

As you'd expect, the strained family visits are a chance to revisit old arguments with their outspoken relatives, be reminded of the most embarrassing episodes from their childhoods, and generally have a miserable time.

"Four Christmases" is relentlessly busy in piling on the comic melodrama, with some of the events so forced that the movie seems desperately eager to generate laughs. One gag involves an infant's projectile vomit covering Kate; another involves Brad falling off his dad's roof while trying to install a TV satellite dish. Many other gags concern intimate details of family life, leaving one to wonder whether this holiday movie is even appropriate for young family members.

Although Vaughn and Witherspoon tend to act broadly here, the manic material doesn't really give them much choice. It's reasonably entertaining to watch their characters grimace as they return to the family nests they fled so long ago.

What sporadically brings the movie to life is seeing the highly recognizable actors playing their parents. Never mind that these actors have all done better work elsewhere. Just think of this so-so comedy as an opportunity to provide these fine actors with extra spending money for the holiday season.

Brad's divorced parents are played by Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek, while Kate's divorced parents are played by Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen. Assorted relatives are played by Jon Favreau, Dwight Yoakum, Tim McGraw and Kristin Chenoweth. This translates to quite a few famous faces in each of the four homes visited.

It's really not giving anything away to note that this divorce-splintered family will pout and shout and generally carry on before discovering a bit of that Christmas spirit. Even Brad and Kate seem headed toward the realization that family life isn't so bad. The maudlin final scenes are an acknowledgement that you can be naughty for most of a Christmas movie, but must be nice at the end. Grade: C+

"Four Christmases" (PG-13) opens this week at theaters everywhere.

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