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Review:
 Film
critics generally hate comedies. Family comedies especially.
That's because ever since “Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation” back in the
early 1960s, if not further, it's been pretty much the same plot:
In order to get from here to there, every disaster that can happen
will happen. It's inevitable. Been there done that.
Now the reason that critics hate these films is not only that
they've been done before [why can't they just rent a good old
Shirly Temple movie…oh yeah, they're racist] a hundred times, but
because the critics have seen…them…a…hundred…times.
This doesn't mean that they can't be done right anymore. They
can.In this version, corporate type Bob Munro(Robin Williams) is
taking his wife Jamie (Cheryl Hines) and kids Carl (Josh
Hutcherson) and Cassie(Jojo Levesque) to a corporate swaree, and
the friend that Cassie brought along attacks Bob's boss Todd(Will
Arnett) for ruining the children of America with his soft drinks,
sloshing them all over his new suit. Hardeeharhar.
Due to an emergency, Todd has decided to NOT fire Bill and tells
him to cancel that Hawaii vacation that they were going on the
next week and head out to Colorado to make a presentation.
This being the American upper-middle class family, we need family
bonding!!! So We've got the title vehicle, which, as expected,
doesn't work properly.
Just because the thing's been done before doesn't mean that much
of the shtick isn't funny. The porta-potty disposal joke actually
works, and the helpful, but rather corney Gornicke family(Jeff
Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth and some kids) from whom the Munros try
so very hard to escape, are actually a decent foil for them.
All in all, it's good not great, and is worth the bucks to take
the kids, after all, it's a family comedy, and there are always
going to be families
Eric Lurio
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