Life imitates art for Vince Vaughn in Couple's Retreat

FOR a man with a reputation as a swinging bachelor, Vince Vaughn looks remarkably comfortable in his new role as a rock-solid husband and father in the ensemble comedy Couples Retreat.

And the actor, who turns 40 in March, admits there might be an autobiographical component to the screenplay, which he co-wrote with long-time friend Jon Favreau.

"It does coincide (with certain things going on in my own life). I am engaged and looking forward to being married and having kids. I'm ready for that," Vaughn says.

While Vaughn warns against being too literal in the comparisons we draw between him and the video game salesman he plays in Couples Retreat (for him, the character has a lot in common with Dodgeball's Peter La Fleur, a fitness instructor who led a bunch of misfits to victory), it's tempting to see his life reflected in some of his career milestones.

Vaughn's 1996 Swingers, written by Favreau, was the story of aspiring actors trying to survive in LA. And The Break-Up, the anti-romcom in which he starred with ex-partner Jennifer Aniston, cut closer to the bone. In Sydney last week, the actor wasn't going out of his way to avoid the obvious parallels between art and life. Vaughn describes The Break-Up as a film about two immature people who handle a relationship immaturely.

"As a result, they destroy the relationship. But at the end of the movie they had both grown from what it was they had gone through. Who hasn't done that?" he asks.

Not many of us. And certainly not Vaughn.

"Sometimes you are in a relationship to learn about yourself but you should get out of it. It's not a good relationship, even if you love that person. That was the first movie in the last however many years where the people didn't end up together. What comes next?"

In Vaughn's case, it's an old-fashioned bended-knee proposal to 29-year-old Canadian real estate agent Kyla Weber.

And a comedy, set in Bora Bora , about a bunch of ordinary married folk that he compares with The Wizard Of Oz.

"They go to this island where there is a guru who is an expert in everything. But the message is not dissimilar to The Wizard Of Oz: look in the mirror. You don't have to go to some magical place to get the answers, but you do have to be honest with yourself," he says.

Vaughn might be starting to sound like a self-help manual at this point, but he says he actually prefers to sound things out with friends and family.

"I've read books on different things and learned information from them, but it's ultimately what you do with that information," he says. "At a certain point, you're going to have to start to try things.

See what works for you. Fail. And respond and do things differently."

Vaughn gives the strong impression that he has been practising what he preaches.