In 'Four Christmases,' Seth Gordon explores a season's gratings

To some, it might seem a bit of a stretch for the director of an odd and obscure documentary about the '80s arcade game Donkey Kong to become the man in charge of the big-budget holiday-season comedy " Four Christmases," starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. Even the movie's 32-year-old filmmaker, Seth Gordon, describes it as an "unprecedented, staggering, irrational leap."

By Tom Roston

November 30, 2008