Johnson Family Vacation

2004 "Take the ride."
4.6| 1h37m| PG-13| en
Details

Nate Johnson, a Los Angeles man estranged from his wife and three children, decides to reconnect with his family by taking them with him on a road trip to Missouri for a big family reunion.

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Reviews

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Paul Magne Haakonsen "Johnson Family Vacation" could have been so much more than what it turned out to be, especially because it had a lot of potential, and all opportunities were right there. But director Christopher Erskin just failed to utilize the potential of the movie and the acting talents to the fullest.The story in this 2004 comedy is about the Johnson family traveling cross country in order to get to a grand family reunion. But the family is met with one obstacle after another along the way, and things get more and more out of hand.There were a lot of situations which in the movie which could have been so much better with more comedy elements added. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is a boring movie or anything. It is adequate for what it was, just a shame that it wasn't fully utilized. For instance, the hot tub scene was one situation which could have proved to be hilarious, but its potential was just briefly skimmed and it ended up as a somewhat flat scene.And even more odd was it that with a cast list that included Cedric the Entertainer and Vanessa Williams, Christopher B. Duncan and Steve Harvey that they didn't get more out of the movie. I guess that the talents were perhaps inhibited by the script and the director.For a family vacation movie, then "Johnson Family Vacation" pales in comparison to the "National Lampoon Vacation" movies - you know, the ones with Chevy Chase.All in all, then "Johnson Family Vacation" is an adequate comedy movie and can easily be watched if you are looking for something somewhat funny and that requires absolutely no brain activity.
SDunne17 There are so many things wrong with this so-called 'comedy'. I would love to list everyone single one of the faults but as I am limited to 1,000 words, I won't be able to come close.To start with, the character's were undeveloped, unbelievable and dislikeable. In a road movie such as this one, where the only thing to carry the movie is the character's and their relationships, the audience needs to connect in some way with them to really be engaged with the story. The character's here are not engaging, they are mostly black stereotypes with no depth and do such unbelievable thing such as pee in plastic cup inside the car and throw each others CDs out of the car. The basic ideas for the family members were: separated parents, a wannabe rapper, a girl always on the phone and a sweet young girl. However, no one took these ideas and developed them into characters I could identify as real people.Another main problem of the movie is that it has set out to be a comedy but is, to put it simply, not funny. I didn't laugh once during this film, the jokes were just so dire. I just can't get my head around how having Nate climb a telephone pole in the middle of a corn field to get to the phone was supposed to be funny. Why was the phone at the top of a telephone pole in the middle of a corn field?The film is also lacking a point. I didn't understand why the five of them travelled through numerous states over several days just so they can compete for a meaningless trophy and so Bate can triumph over his obnoxious brother. As well as that, you don't Bate's family too win the trophy as you as spent the whole of the film building up a hate towards them.And finally, this film throws at us the biggest road movie cliché of the all, it shows us that the experience has made Bate a better person. He promises to be a better husband etc and you can see that the experience has had a profound effect on him but it was a bit too late in the film for it to try and get deep.Let me warn you now, do not watch this film. You will never get back the 97 minutes you spend on this.
Kieran O'Dwyer This film is definitely one for somebody who has arrived late from work and wants to watch a light hearted comedy. Cedric the entertainer is very comedic especially when he disputes music with Bow wow and in the pool with all the large ladies. From start to finish from California to the family reunion there are comedic and witty moments and everything from launching urine at a policeman to running out of gas and meeting uncle earl who is also Cedric the entertainer happens. A film for everyone who loves long journeys and Solange Knowles, (I know i do). The film is alike a 'My Wife and Kids' episode and coninscidently features Jennifer Freeman. A great family film with an excellent ending
MillenniaZ This was way too long of a movie. The jokes were boring. Too bad such really good actors were thrown into a pretty bad movie. If they were trying to copy National Lampoon movies, they weren't even close. More often than not, you can't do a classic justice. From the start to finish, I just couldn't get interested. I watched it hoping that it would improve, and not even the jacuzzi scene made me laugh. I've always liked Steve Harvey but his part had him acting incredibly stupid and nowhere near funny. Even in the end, he was still being stupid. It was a waste of nearly two hours. I would suggest that instead of watching this movie you read a book. Or better yet, take a walk.

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