Johnson Family Vacation

Rating:
Summary: Decent But Not Too Funny!
Review: This film seemed like a waste of Cedric the Entertainer's talent. Seems like he was holding back and granted this was a family movie, there could've been more geniunely funny moments in this film besides the simple slapstick which seemed more annoying than funny. As I was sitting in the movie theater I actually tried to force myself to actually like this film. Cedric doubles as his uncle in the film which I thought was just sloppy. There was a clear effort to make sure that both the characters he was playing weren't in the same shot together. I saw better "doubling" in a Van Damme movie (i.e. Double Impact). Vanessa Williams role seemed very subdued, another waste of talent in the film but she really wasn't given much to work with here and neither was Steve Harvey. The sad thing about it is, is that I really like these actors and they are capable of so much more than was presented in this movie. It must've been for the paycheck. How else can one explain their signing onto this bad movie. Okay I will say that the movie is somewhat enjoyable but I was really looking forward to seeing a movie that would basically outdue National Lampoon's Vacation. I was sorely disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining...even WITH its flaws!
Review: This is one of those movies that can be divided into "pluses" and "minuses".

The good points:

1) Although Cedric the Entertainer's "Nate Johnson" is estranged from wife "Dorothy" (Vanessa Williams), the couple has reconciled somewhat to take their kids to the annual family reunion. This provides for one of the few times that a "nuclear" black family is represented in film.

2) A killer soundtrack of "old school" favorites enhances the on-screen happenings.

3) Location scenes add to the "realism" of the family's journey.

4) Native Americans are portrayed as savvy entrepreneurs that "humor" the unenlightened tourist.

5) This is not a bad, first-time effort for director Christopher Erkin.

The minuses:

1) Some of the vignettes are derivative of other films of the genre, especially the Chevy Chase movies.

2) Nate's daughter "Nikki" (Solange Knowles) perpetuates the stereotype of the oversexed teen nymphet.

3. Bow Wow, definitely not playing against type, is Nate's son, "D.J.", a wannabe-rapper.

4. Jokes are made at the expense of "big-boned" women, continuing the tradition of laughing at FAT folks.

5. A rather disgusting scene involving a bodily function and a drink cup.

Even though, they're evenly separated, the "strengths" of the pluses makes this film mildly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: No laughs found
Review: This is one of those movies you love to hate. There was aplot but it didn't make sense, there were lots of charecters but they weren't deep, there were funny jokes all directly taken from other movies, and there was Murphys Law comedy but it was just stupid. Let me elaborate.

The plot. The mother had a competition each year at family reunions to see which family was the best.... WHAT? Do you ever remember that happening at your family reunions? Have your parents ever tryed to se who's family was the best??? No. That's stupid. But then they win!! THAT'S NOT RIGHT FOR A MURPHEY'S LAW COMEDY!!!! The other one is supposed to win, and then something happens so his trophy breaks!!! IT'S SOOO OBVIOUS!!!

The charecters. None were funny. It seemed like a perfectly normal family to me. The only "odd" personalite was the uncle, and I got tired of him after about 2 minutes. Sure they ran into odd charecters like the Satan worshipper, but it wasn't THAT funny.

The "jokes." I put it in quotes because, I don't think you can call it a joke if it's not funny. Like "there's a telephone 3 miles up the road. DARN, it's in a corn feild, that I didn't see...DARN!! it's also on a pole that's in a corn feild apparently owned by noone with a phone in the middle of it for no apperant reason! I'll have to climb the POLE!!!" SHUT UP ALREADY!!!! I was about to leave.

Murphy's Law. To me, in comparision to National Lampoon's Vacation it really wasn't that bad of a trip!!

Rating:
Summary: Dumb.
Review: With Solange Knowles and Bow Wow, I had expected something more than a weak and failing attempt at a feel-good family comedy. The movie was just far-fetched and dumb, enough said. There are only three scenes that were worth watching; the cup in the car episode (my little brother did that once...sick), and the Bun World was funny too...actually that's just two but oh, well.
And now the bad points, ah, where to begin. Okay, first of all, the dialogue, plot, and irony of the movie made it corny overall. Since when do people pick up teenage hitchhikers, and since when do people not suspect anything when that hitchhiker panics when trying to have her picture taken, and since when do the people have the hitchhiker spend the night in the same hotel room, and since when do those hitchhikers have hidden baby alligators names Twinkie? And also since when do they throw a whole family, kindergartener and all, in a barred jail cell? And since when do family reunions consist of a talent show? It was this kind of kiddie (well not even, in this case) ironic stuff that made me give this movie one star. Sorry(...), but I had expected more.