REEL CRITICS:

Director Baz Luhrmann loves lavish spectacle just for the pure giddiness of it all. It worked in “Moulin Rouge” but comes across as a bit silly in “Australia,” an epic wannabe set just before World War II that’s as contrived as Nicole Kidman’s Brit accent.

As Lady Ashley, Kidman is laced up way too tight (and in desperate need of a sandwich) as she frowns and pouts upon her arrival at Faraway Downs, her husband’s cattle station. But a couple glimpses of the Drover (a very buff Hugh Jackman) with his shirt off and her attitude, like her accent, seem to melt away. They fall madly in love, and everything is just a bit of paradise until bad things happen.

The good guys are unbelievably good and the bad guys enjoyably dastardly. There’s an interesting story line that involves a half-caste boy (Brandon Walters) and a glimpse of actual history about the “stolen generations” — indigenous children separated from their families by the whites for the sake of their “safety” and civilization.

Romantics at heart will enjoy the sweeping action and the gorgeous scenery — majestic mountains, Hugh Jackman in a tux, grand canyons, Hugh Jackman’s ripped abs. “Australia” is not a bad film, but at two and a half hours, it could have been so much better.

‘Four Christmases’ a waste of talent

Watch the “Four Christmases” trailer and you won’t miss a thing if you skip the movie itself. Vince Vaughn fan that I am, it was sad to witness not only a waste of his talents, but also those of none other than five Oscar winning actors. Talk about your Thanksgiving turkey!

Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon are Brad and Kate, a cute couple who seem to agree on everything and share an idyllic life. When a holiday flight to Fiji is fogged in, they must visit four sets of relatives in one day. The results range from mildly funny to gross to cringe-worthy.

Robert Duvall plays Brad’s dad, patriarch of a rowdy clan and still bitter about ex-wife Sissy Spacek. She is now living a serene life with Brad’s former best friend (“I swear I never had sexual feelings for your mom until I was 30”).

Kate’s mom, played by Mary Steenburgen, lives in a “cougar den” and has a new boyfriend, Pastor Phil (Dwight Yoakam).

In the funniest segment, Brad and Kate are forced to play Joseph and Mary in a Christmas pageant. Poor Miss Witherspoon can only step aside as Vaughn launches into some hilarious overacting.

Rounding out the gallery of Oscar winners who phoned it in for a paycheck is Jon Voight, Kate’s dad and the most well-adjusted of all the parents. By the time we get to his house, we are overfed and fed up with this overstuffed turkey and ready for a long winter’s nap.

SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.