Movie Review: RV

Stars: 1 out of 5
Pros: The acting and moral are fine

Cons: I was expecting a comedy

The Bottom Line:

More cringing than laughs

Does that sound like fun to you?

Then you'll love this film

RVing was Never This Painful

Growing up, a family vacation meant hitching up the car to a trailer and heading out. And some of my happiest memories are from those trips. It didn't matter where we went, we had a good time.

With that background, I must admit I was curious about RV. Based on the previews, I probably would have passed right on by. But I had to give it a try. I wish I'd listened to my first instinct.

The Munro family used to be close. But then the kids grew up. Now father Bob (Robin Williams) is committed to his job always worried that his demanding boss will fire him for a younger, better motivated model. Teen daughter Cassie (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) wants nothing to do with her uncool father. And pre-teen son Carl (Josh Hutcherson) is going through a gangster phase. All this leaves mom Jamie (Cheryl Haines) just trying to hold everything together.

The family is looking forward to starting their summer with a vacation to Hawaii, but that changes when Bob's boss Todd (Will Arnett) demands he lead a meeting in Colorado in the middle of the trip. Instead of explain the situation to his family, he rents a motor home and bills it as a family bonding time. To say the rest of the family is reluctant is putting it mildly. To make matters worse, Bob knows nothing about the monster he's rented. Will they survive the trip to Colorado? Can Bob work without his family knowing?

Let's get the good out of the way, shall we? The acting was good. Robin Williams was his usual funny self with some great impersonations. Cheryl Haines was appropriately sympathetic. And this applies to Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth who lead the Gornicke family, a family that the Monros keep running into over the course of the movie. There are lots of kids in the film who are good as well.

So that pretty much leaves everything else.

The movie was extremely predictable. Now that is never a deal breaker for me. Some of my favorite films are predictable. But if you are going to tell a familiar story, you need to entertain me. This movie failed that critical test. I was left cringing while I waited for each plot point to finally show up.

This is a comedy. I didn't laugh once.

We're supposed to find humor in how the family snipes at each other. I found that extremely painful.

We're supposed to laugh at the physical comedy, I mean bathroom humor, of the movie. I found it disgusting.

We're supposed to laugh at the antics of the Gornickes. I found them over the top, stereotypical, and borderline offensive.

To top it off, the "best parts" of the film were in the previews. I'd already seen the best parts, and I didn't find them funny.

Finally, there's the expected emotional climax. Nothing about it surprised me. I must admit, I liked it. If a different movie had preceded it, it would have been enough to give that movie an extra star. And another movie could have preceded it because this ending almost came out of no where.

Instead of watching RV, use that time to start planning a family camping trip. You and your family will have a much better time than you would ever get from this unfunny "comedy."