RV (Widescreen Edition)

Buy This Item RV (Widescreen Edition) by Sony Pictures  Available from Amazon  $14.94  on 11-16-2008     The long tradition of family vacation comedies continues in <i>RV</i>, with Robin Williams doing his best to keep things amusing. He succeeds, for the most part, by downplaying his manic persona and settling comfortably into his role as well-meaning husband and father Bob Munro. Determined to combine work and pleasure, Bob rents the titular motor home to drive his wife (Cheryl Hines), teenage daughter (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) and pre-teen son (Josh Hutcherson) on a scenic vacation in the Colorado Rockies while secretly preparing his presentation for a high-stakes corporate merger. Their dysfunctional road trip leads to repeated encounters with the all-too-happy Gornicke family (led by Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth), who only <i>appear</i> to be stupid rednecks, when in fact they represent the familial togetherness that Bob is striving to regain. As directed by comedy veteran Barry Sonnenfeld (whose image as "Irv" the RV rental king is plastered across the side of the Munro's RV), these warm-and-fuzzy sentiments are strictly by-the-numbers, along with plenty of jokes about raw sewage, scavenging raccoons, and RV's run amuck. There aren't any real highlights, and the outcome is utterly predictable, but <i>RV</I> delivers enough comedy to qualify as an enjoyable diversion. Those who remember Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Vincente Minnell's 1954 hit <i>The Long, Long Trailer</i> may find <i>RV</i> similarly entertaining. <i>--Jeff Shannon</i> Reader Reviews OK, first of all, has Robin Williams ever made a bad movie? I don't think so, except Dead Poets Society and Awakenings which were the least funny of his movies, but some people like those. Which just goes to show that even his stinkers are beloved. This movie has a fresh concept about a family travelling around in an RV and the ensuing hijinks that ensue. Robin Williams is really funny in all the funny parts he has, and he definitely has a comic timing that people cannot and should not ignore. I'm not a fan of slapstick movies like Dumb & Dumber and the Three Stooges, and one of the Merchant/Ivory productions, which is why I really gravitate towards RV. It is about learning, and growing, and feeling, and loving, and family, and God, and recreational vehicles, and only some farting jokes. It's totally witty and thought-inducing like a play by Voltaire or something, and that's why I think it's what I like to call "smart comedy." The girl from Curb Your Enthusiasm is good in this movie too and I bet she ad-libbed all of her lines because she's great at that. So is Robin Williams. He must be hilarious to be around, because he's probably always making classic jokes about priests, and doing his "urban voice" or his preacher voice, or his southern voice. And he can make anything funny. He could read the phone book (in his southern preacher voice) and make it sound like a joke book instead of a list of phone numbers. Man, I love Robin Williams. Also I would say that the titular RV is so great that it's basically like a third character all of its own, although I don't think it should branch out into dramas. Just kidding, I know it's just an inanimated object. My joke was lame. Which just goes to prove how awesome Robin Williams is in everything he does. You should go rent RV now because it will make you want to have a family that has lots of fun and silly conflicts together.

RV (Widescreen Edition) Available from Amazon Price: $14.94 Updated on 11-16-2008.

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