Die Chaoscamper

The movie's advertising poster somehow made me think this film was going to be like the Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz classic, The Long, Long Trailer, a movie I had long loved. As it turns out, this film really wasn't like that one, but I enjoyed it anyway. While it was loaded with sometimes predictable slapstick comedy and was kind of heavy on potty situation jokes (but definitely not entirely, there was adult humor, too), there were some lines in there that were really great, particularly the ones uttered by Joanna Levesque (whose delivery was such that I found myself laughing again over some of her lines when I thought about them later), who played the daughter, and who was beautiful, by the way. Cheryl Hines as the wife had some great lines, too, and I enjoyed her quirky beauty and great personality. Josh Hutcherson, whom I first saw and enjoyed in Zathura, playing the son in this movie, is revealing himself to be quite a good actor, and I see that he has been cast in the upcoming film based on the award-winning children's novel, Bridge to Terabithia, which is likely to be a plum role for him.

Robin Williams in his films can sometimes be irritating, but he can also be extremely funny, particularly in the way he uses his voice, and in this film, I didn't think he was ever irritating, and I particularly liked his "hip hop" or "homeboy" routine in this film.

I mostly enjoyed this movie for the pleasure of being with the people in it, including all members of the Gornicke family, whose generosity of spirit I appreciated, and I thought they had a real cool bus. The truth is that a road trip in an RV like this can be lots of fun for a family, and exploring what America has to offer is a great thing to do. In this film, the stunning "Colorado" scenery (really Canada) was quite appealing and made me want to go to the Rockies this summer.

The movie had a great soundtrack and I also noticed some clever sound effects that made the comedy situations even funnier.

All in all, this movie has a great heart and is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it a lot, as did the audience in the theater when I saw it.

The executive Bob Munro (Robin Williams) is stressed, feeling threatened of losing his job and his lifestyle, since his abusive boss Todd Mallory (Will Arnett) hired the Stanford's geek Laird (Richard Cox) to work in their soda's company. Bob has promised his wife Jamie Munro (Cheryl Hines), his teenage daughter Cassie Munro (Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque) and his young son Carl Munro (Josh Hutcherson) to spend vacations in Hawaii, but Todd demands him to prepare a presentation and attend a business meeting with the owners of a family company in a merging operation scheduled in the same period. Bob hides the truth to his family, rents a recreational vehicle and tries to convince his dysfunctional family that a road trip to the Colorado Rocky Mountains would be good to bring old values back to their family. After many incidents and while in the trailers parking area, the rookie Bob is helped by the bizarre but friendly Gornicke family. They escape from the Gornickes and initiate a journey of difficulties and leaning, retrieving their forgotten family bonds.

When I decided to watch "RV" on DVD, I had lower expectations, but I am still laughing while writing my review. This hilarious movie has many unforgotten sequences, but my two favorites are in the very beginning, when Cassie promises to love her father forever, and when Bob complains that the family watches television in four different apparatuses and needs Internet to communicate among them. This family entertainment has good messages relative to family bonding, pressure in the job and true friends. There are some gross, but also funny scenes, and in the end I really liked this comedy. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Férias no Trailer" ("Vacations in the Trailer")

I take my younger daughter to the movies every Friday night, along with another dad and his girl. The movies are chosen to be kid friendly. and so 'RV'was selected. This particular evening the other dad's girl friend was with us.

The adults were resigned to a glum two hours of tedium, but - surprise! Surprise!! - it turned out to be kinda fun. No one will confuse it with Citizen Kane, but it was lively, funny, and not at all boring. It is obviously a pay check movie for everyone involved - but they are all solid professionals and deliver the goods. I was particularly interested that Kristin Chenoweth, the Broadway star, was in the cast.

Sp we had a good time with this movie, which is really all you ever ask on Friday night. The entire case does an ensemble version of 'Route 66' over the closing credits, which is worth staying for.

I was in the mood for something stupid and silly. RV filled the bill, mostly because of Cheryl Hinds and the Goernike family (headed by Kristen Chenowith and Jeff Daniels). The dumb singing alone moved things along well enough. Robin Williams never believed his own character which is hard-to-take from a film's lead. And his boss, the film's ostensible villain, was a zero.

On the plus side are the film's pacing, the Goernike's, Cheryl Hinds, and three strokes of brilliance by Williams amongst a lot of glib throwaways. To its credit, RV never bogs down by taking itself too seriously or by trying to convince the audience it has an actual plot beyond its absurd trappings. Director Sonnenfeld has an amusing cameo as Irv.

R.V

My rating: 6.5/10

I went to see this movie with extremely low expectations, thanks to all the negative predictions which had been circulating for the past few weeks, and I have only one thing to say; DO NOT avoid this movie only because your favourite critic has said that it is an unprecedented flop, or because you think the title is unappealing – watch the movie for yourself first, and be the judge yourself without being influenced by any other guy who probably hasn't even seen the film. Only then you will realise the true significance of this movie.

First off, it's a great movie to watch with the whole family, which is saying something since most of the comedy movie nowadays are filled with raunchy jokes from start to finish (not that I don't enjoy those movies, but it's cool to watch a nice simple family movie every now and then – "The Pink Panther" is a good example of the latter). Contrary to rumours, Robin Williams does NOT let us down, in fact I think he is just as funny as he was in his previous flicks – and if some obsessively observant viewers do notice a change in his performance, then give the guy a break, he's getting older he isn't what he used to be 10 years ago!

I think it's a pretty good movie– mind, it isn't a piece of genius but as I said, if you wipe out all biased thoughts from your mind before watching this flick and without the skeptical attitude, there's a good chance you will enjoy this movie as much as I did, just give it a try.