Every person with divorced parents knows the struggle of trying to figure how and with whom to spend the holidays. But of course, with modern co-parenting and blended families, you could always just go to both houses, which is exactly what Kate (Reese Witherspoon) and Brad (Vince Vaughn) did in the hit holiday rom-com Four Christmases.
In the 2008 film, both characters’ parents are divorced, and instead of spending Christmas with any of them, Kate and Brad always go on a trip. But when that gets canceled, the two of them are forced to go to all four of their parents’ houses in one day. Filled with humor, love and holiday magic, it truly is a classic. Now, over 15 years later, we decided to find out what the Four Christmases cast has been up to and what they remember from their time on set. Keep scrolling for more.
Reese Witherspoon
CHARACTER PLAYED: Kate Kinkaid
BEST KNOWN FOR: Election (1999), Legally Blonde (2001), Sweet Home Alabama (2002,) Walk the Line (2005), Water for Elephants (2011), Wild (2014), Big Little Lies (2017 to 2019), The Morning Show (2019 to 2023) and Little Fires Everywhere (2020).
PERSONAL: Witherspoon was married to Ryan Phillippe from 1999 to 2007 and had two children with him. After that, she married Jim Toth in 2011 and had one additional child with him before splitting up in 2023.
THOUGHTS ON FOUR CHRISTMASES: “I think in any kind of money that deals with family and relationships, you always evaluate your parent’s relationship in comparison to your own, so a lot of that has come up in this movie.”
Vince Vaughn
CHARACTER PLAYED: Brad/Orlando McVie
BEST KNOWN FOR: Dodgeball (2004), Wedding Crashers (2005), Fred Claus (2007), Couples Retreat (2009), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Fighting with my Family (2019) and Bad Monkey (2024).
PERSONAL: Vaughn has been married to Kyla Weber since 2010 and has two children with her.
THOUGHTS ON FOUR CHRISTMASES: When talking about his hilarious scene where his character comforters his mom’s new boyfriend, Vaughn said, “I always thought it was fun when people would say, ‘I don’t want to be your dad, I just want to be your friend.’ So, I had the idea of like, ‘Well, what if he really was your friend?’ Just that whole thing was fun to me, to make it like that speech that every guy would give, but have it be the history that it was really your best friend.”
Robert Duvall
CHARACTER PLAYED: Howard McVie
BEST KNOWN FOR: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), M*A*S*H (1970), The Godfather (1972), Tender Mercies (1983), Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993), The Apostle (1997), Gods and Generals (2003), The Judge (2014) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022),
PERSONAL: Duvall has been married four times and doesn’t have any children.
Sissy Spacek
CHARACTER PLAYED: Paula McVie
BEST KNOWN FOR: Carrie (1976), Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), Marie (1985), JFK (1991), In the Bedroom (2001), Tuck Everlasting (2002), The Help (2011), Bloodline (2015 to 2017) and Sam & Kate (2022).
PERSONAL: Spacek has been married to Jack Fisk since 1974, and they have two children.
Jon Voight
CHARACTER PLAYED: Creighton Kinkaid
BEST KNOWN FOR: Fearless Frank (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Catch-22 (1970), Deliverance (1972), Runaway Train (1985), Mission: Impossible (1996), Anaconda (1997), Varsity Blues (1999), Zoolander (2001), Holes (2003), National Treasure (2004), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and Strangers (2024).
PERSONAL: Voight has been married twice and has two kids, including actress Angelia Jolie.
Mary Steenburgen
CHARACTER PLAYED: Marilyn Kinkaid
BEST KNOWN FOR: Romantic Comedy (1983), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Elf (2003), Step Brothers (2008), The Proposal (2009), A Walk in the Woods (2015), The Last Man on Earth (2015 to 2018) and Book Club I & II (2018/2023).
PERSONAL: Steenburgen has been married twice, most recently to Ted Danson and has two kids.
THOUGHTS ON FOUR CHRISTMASES: “I think there’s something sad about a girl who has to come home to a mother who—every single time she comes home—she doesn’t know who she is going to be because her mother changes who she is based on the man she’s going out with. But I loved my character. She was fun for me.”
Jon Favreau
CHARACTER PLAYED: Denver McVie
BEST KNOWN FOR: Friends (1997), Elf (2003), Couple’s Retreat (2009) and The Jungle Book (2016). He has also starred in several various Avengers movies, including Iron Man and Spider-Man.
PERSONAL: Favreau has been married to Joya Tillem since 2000 and has three children.
THOUGHTS ON FOUR CHRISTMASES: “What’s fun about this kind of a movie is you got something on the page that’s been thought through very well. You’ve got this great central relationship between Vince and Reese. And you have this wonderful cast around it, and then every day is an opportunity to exceed what’s on the page either through improv, discussion or working on it in the trailer.”
Tim McGraw
CHARACTER PLAYED: Dallas McVie
BEST KNOWN FOR: Flicka (2006), The Blind Side (2009), Tomorrowland (2015) and 1883 (2021 to 2022).
PERSONAL: McGraw has been married to Faith Hill since 1996, and they have three children together.
THOUGHTS ON FOUR CHRISTMASES: “I’ve never seen Four Christmases. Never seen it. I saw the trailer, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m never; I can’t look at myself like that for an hour and a half, two hours, heck no.’ I don’t even like to hear myself, much less look at myself.”
Kristin Chenoweth
CHARACTER PLAYED: Courtney
BEST KNOWN FOR: The West Wing (2004 to 2006), Pushing Daisies (2007 to 2009),
Tinkerbell (2008), Glee (2009 to 2014), A Christmas Love Story (2019) Schmigadoon! (2021 to 2023) and Our Little Secret (2024).
PERSONAL: Chenoweth has been married to Josh Bryant since 2023.
THOUGHTS ON FOUR CHRISTMASES: “Each of us has these people. Each of us has those sisters and brothers that could take us or leave us. But at the end of it all, the love is there…And really, who else would you have if you didn’t have your family.”
Katy Mixon Greer
CHARACTER PLAYED: Susan McVie
BEST KNOWN FOR: Mike & Molly (2010 to 2016), American Housewife (2016 to 2021), Hell or High Water (2016) and Hot Frosty (2024).
PERSONAL: Mixon has been married to her husband, Breaux Greer, since 2016, and they have two children together.
