It probably sounded like a swell idea in the pitch meeting: Robin Williams vs. an uncooperative RV. But this concept never translates into laughs in the belabored and repetitive "RV." Nevertheless, any Williams comedy will translate into a big opening weekend and perhaps a solid two- to three-week run with family audiences. However, older family members and admirers of director Barry Sonnenfeld might wonder at the nearly complete absence of comic ingenuity in a film from the man who directed "Get Shorty", "The Addams Family" and "Men in Black".
The biggest disappointment is the rigorously rote nature of the characters and story line in Geoff Rodkey's script: Workaholic dad, Williams' Bob Munro, and dysfunctional family take a reluctant vacation to Colorado in a recreational vehicle. Everything that can go wrong with an RV does. Yet despite these hardships, the family pulls together and rediscovers the meaning of being a family again. Golly.
This is comedy writing by check list: Brakes fail. Check. Dishes go flying. Check. Toilet backs up. Check. Raccoons invade the trailer. OK, maybe you anticipated a skunk or a snake, but you knew some animal would take up residence.
One possibly predictable but still refreshing "challenge" comes in the form of fellow RVers, the aggressively friendly Gornicke family, headed by Jeff Daniels and Tony-winning Kristin Chenoweth. They are superannuated hippies, who permanently reside in their RV and homeschool the kids. This gives a new meaning to the term "trailer trash," but hey, they liven things up whenever they appear. Trouble is, the Munro family keeps trying to ditch them.
The secret agenda behind the abrupt and unwelcome change in plans from a tropical vacation in Hawaii to the road trip from hell is the fact Bob is about to lose his job unless he comes up with a killer sales pitch for a meeting in Colorado. Which turns the film's hero into a wimp who can't tell his own family that his job and their financial security are on the line. This is one speed bump from which no movie can recover.
Williams looks unusually glum as if he were aware this is not going to be one of his better comedy outings. Typically, he does pull all sorts of rabbits -- raccoons? -- out of his hat. At one point, when his younger son is threatened by three trailer park toughs, he breaks into ghetto-perfect rap jive that scares them off. But how does that come from his character, an anal-retentive, middle-class white guy?
The rest of the cast is asked to hit the same notes relentlessly, but they do so with a fair amount of grace. Cheryl Hines, as Bob's wife, displays enough sympathy and charm that you wonder why Bob can't confide in her. Joanna "JoJo" Levesque and Josh Hutcherson create believable put-upon kids that have hit the rebellious stage of early life.
Daniels and Chenoweth are a hoot as well-adjusted parents who are a lot smarter than they let on. Hunter Parrish, Chloe Sonnenfeld and Alex Ferris make brief though solid impressions as their kids. All other characters are exaggerated for cheap laughs.
Mostly country music fills the background as the road movie takes us through postcard scenery in Alberta, Canada. Fred Murphy's lensing and Michael Bolton's design fit the film's production needs nicely.
RV
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures in association with Relativity Media presents a Red Wagon/Intermedia/IMF production
Credits:
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenwriter: Geoff Rodkey
Producers: Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick
Executive producers: Bobby Cohen, Ryan Kavanaugh
Director of photography: Fred Murphy
Production designer: Michael Bolton
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Mary E. Vogt
Editor: Kevin Tent. Cast: Bob Munro: Robin Williams
Travis Gornicke: Jeff Daniels
Jamie: Cheryl Hines
Mary Jo: Kristin Chenoweth
Cassie: Joanna "JoJo" Levesque
Carl: Josh Hutcherson
Earl: Hunter Parrish
Moon: Chloe Sonnenfeld
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 99 minutes...
The biggest disappointment is the rigorously rote nature of the characters and story line in Geoff Rodkey's script: Workaholic dad, Williams' Bob Munro, and dysfunctional family take a reluctant vacation to Colorado in a recreational vehicle. Everything that can go wrong with an RV does. Yet despite these hardships, the family pulls together and rediscovers the meaning of being a family again. Golly.
This is comedy writing by check list: Brakes fail. Check. Dishes go flying. Check. Toilet backs up. Check. Raccoons invade the trailer. OK, maybe you anticipated a skunk or a snake, but you knew some animal would take up residence.
One possibly predictable but still refreshing "challenge" comes in the form of fellow RVers, the aggressively friendly Gornicke family, headed by Jeff Daniels and Tony-winning Kristin Chenoweth. They are superannuated hippies, who permanently reside in their RV and homeschool the kids. This gives a new meaning to the term "trailer trash," but hey, they liven things up whenever they appear. Trouble is, the Munro family keeps trying to ditch them.
The secret agenda behind the abrupt and unwelcome change in plans from a tropical vacation in Hawaii to the road trip from hell is the fact Bob is about to lose his job unless he comes up with a killer sales pitch for a meeting in Colorado. Which turns the film's hero into a wimp who can't tell his own family that his job and their financial security are on the line. This is one speed bump from which no movie can recover.
Williams looks unusually glum as if he were aware this is not going to be one of his better comedy outings. Typically, he does pull all sorts of rabbits -- raccoons? -- out of his hat. At one point, when his younger son is threatened by three trailer park toughs, he breaks into ghetto-perfect rap jive that scares them off. But how does that come from his character, an anal-retentive, middle-class white guy?
The rest of the cast is asked to hit the same notes relentlessly, but they do so with a fair amount of grace. Cheryl Hines, as Bob's wife, displays enough sympathy and charm that you wonder why Bob can't confide in her. Joanna "JoJo" Levesque and Josh Hutcherson create believable put-upon kids that have hit the rebellious stage of early life.
Daniels and Chenoweth are a hoot as well-adjusted parents who are a lot smarter than they let on. Hunter Parrish, Chloe Sonnenfeld and Alex Ferris make brief though solid impressions as their kids. All other characters are exaggerated for cheap laughs.
Mostly country music fills the background as the road movie takes us through postcard scenery in Alberta, Canada. Fred Murphy's lensing and Michael Bolton's design fit the film's production needs nicely.
RV
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures in association with Relativity Media presents a Red Wagon/Intermedia/IMF production
Credits:
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenwriter: Geoff Rodkey
Producers: Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick
Executive producers: Bobby Cohen, Ryan Kavanaugh
Director of photography: Fred Murphy
Production designer: Michael Bolton
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Mary E. Vogt
Editor: Kevin Tent. Cast: Bob Munro: Robin Williams
Travis Gornicke: Jeff Daniels
Jamie: Cheryl Hines
Mary Jo: Kristin Chenoweth
Cassie: Joanna "JoJo" Levesque
Carl: Josh Hutcherson
Earl: Hunter Parrish
Moon: Chloe Sonnenfeld
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 99 minutes...
- 4/28/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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