Review: Johnson Family Vacation (***)

JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): ***


Way better than its cheesy trailer, JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION is a slightly
risqué family film about the Johnsons' trip to their annual family reunion.
A good-spirited comedy filled with likeable characters, it warms the heart
while it tickles the funny bone. You'll be smiling throughout and laughing
frequently as the Johnsons, father Nate (Cedric the Entertainer), mother
Dorothy (Vanessa Williams), son DJ (Bow Wow), older daughter Nikki (Solange
Knowles) and younger daughter Destiny (Gabby Soleil), drive halfway across
the country from L.A. to Missouri.



Most family get-togethers are more laidback than the Johnsons' gathering.
Every year there is a competition for the best family, with sack races and
singing competitions to determine the winning family. Mack Johnson (Steve
Harvey), Nate's boisterous and supremely confident older brother, plans on
taking home the big trophy again this year. In what appears a form of
bribery, we watch as Mack brings their mama a large plasma screen display
for her living room. She tells him to, "Set it right over there between JFK
and Jesus," her two prominent pictures.



The road trip is structured as a disconnected series of humorous incidents
and comical disasters. Before the voyage begins, Nate goes to the dealer
where he had asked for an eight-track tape player to be put in the big
Lincoln Navigator that will effectively become the family's bus for the
journey. The dealer, who wasn't able to locate an ancient tape player,
instead, remade the SUV into something like a family version of a
pimpmobile.



Nate tries his best to control situations and offer unwanted advice, but he
turns in one funny failure after another. He lectures DJ about their being
no future in a career in rap music because rappers have no 401Ks, no medical
and no dental. Their gold teeth prove the latter, Nate points out. Along
the way, he and his son have numerous opportunities to argue about their
differing music tastes. "Got to wear a condom just to listen," Nate
complains about the rapper's songs.



All of the family members have their own little stories. Destiny has an
imaginary pooch called Mr. Barks-A-Lot that she makes her dad retrieve
whenever it gets out. Nikki is a cute teen whose favorite fashion accessory
is the cell phone she has attached to her ear. With eyes that are a riot,
she mentally undresses a hunk of an Indian whom she meets at an Indian
casino where the family stops briefly.



In one of the film's better moments, Nate turns generous. Seeing a stranded
hitchhiker along the road, he slams on the breaks in order to help out the
poor lass. "What would Jesus do?" he asks his wife, more in the form of a
statement than a question. Although the young woman, Chrishelle (Shannon
Elizabeth), looks like a cross between a hippie and a lap dancer, I'm sure
her appearance had no bearing on his magnanimous gesture. As in the rest of
the movie, Chrishelle's character, who turns out to be a witch among other
things, is quickly milked for all it's worth and then never seen again so we
can switch to the next episode.



The journey is truly the reward in JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION. The reunion,
shown briefly, is okay, but getting there is most of the fun.



JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION runs 1:35. It is rated PG-13 for "some sexual
references, crude humor and brief drug material" and would be acceptable for
kids around 10 and up.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, April 7, 2004.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century
theaters.



Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

Email:



************************************************** *********************



Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email?

Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.