Johnson Family Vacation Reviews

Basically a glorified sitcom, johnson family vacation depicts the predictable misadventures of the Johnson family clan during their three-day drive from Los Angeles to the annual family reunion in Missouri. Behind the wheel of his souped-up SUV, Nate Johnson (Cedric the Entertainer) is a man on a mission. Nothing is going to stop him from taking the reunion's Family of the Year prize from his ultra-competitive older brother Mack (Harvey). Although he and his exasperated wife Dorothy (Vanessa L. Williams) are currently separated, Nate convinces her to accompany him and their three kids on the proverbial vacation from hell. From car trouble to family squabbles to a spooky hitchhiker (Shannon Elizabeth), everything goes horribly wrong as the embattled clan makes its way to Missouri and Nate's brotherly showdown with Mack.

Making his feature film directorial debut, Erskin displays little to no aptitude for the rhythm and pacing of comedy. The physical comedy bits are sloppily staged and shot and many of the jokes die a slow, painful death onscreen. There is one amusing exchange between Nate and his rapper-wannabe son D. J. (L'il Bow Wow) over their differing musical tastes, but for most of its exceedingly prolonged running time (at least it feels that way), johnson family vacation is just plain bad. The film's failure is particularly regrettable, since Cedric the Entertainer can be extremely funny. He handily stole both Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business and was one of the few bright spots in the turkey Serving Sara (2002). In johnson family vacation, the barrel-chested comedian resorts to mugging in a futile attempt to wring laughs from a lame screenplay by sitcom veterans Earl Richey Jones and Todd R. Jones.

Spring is usually the dumping ground for the major studios, when they rush their weakest films into theaters before unleashing summer's big guns. In the case of johnson family vacation, Fox Searchlight should have bypassed theaters and sent it straight to DVD.