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Hop in, gang. Dad's taking you on a long, long ride
from: sfgate.com
by Mick LaSalle, Chronicle Movie Critic
RV: Comedy. Starring Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Joanna "JoJo" Lavesque and Josh Hutcherson. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. (PG. 98 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)
"RV" is a horrible movie about horrible people, and just because they call it a comedy doesn't mean we have to play along. The story of a family vacation gone wrong, the film is constructed as a series of comic bits that don't pay off, that are not only not amusing but are often disturbing. Director Barry Sonnenfeld and writer Geoff Rodkey present a poisonous vision of family life without ever quite acknowledging it's poisonous. Perhaps they don't notice.
At the head of this miserable family is Robin Williams as a sweet-natured husband and father of two, with a good job as a business executive, but his position isn't secure. So he's on shaky ground at work, and on shaky ground at home as well, with a dissatisfied wife (Cheryl Hines), a relatively benign son (Josh Hutcherson) and an absolutely vicious daughter (Joanna "JoJo" Lavesque), who'd be the most evil character appearing in a film this week, were it not for the release of "United 93."
This cold description would suggest the setup for a farce, a modern version of the kind of film that W.C. Fields made, satirizing marriage and family and presenting an exaggerated and bleak vision of middle age. But that's not what's going on here, and anyway, that would be odd casting for Williams. At least with Fields you can imagine that, on some level, he deserves this treatment, but with Williams shuffling through the movie like Giulietta Masina, you know he doesn't.
To get the essence of "RV," just picture Williams beaming with unconditional love. Then picture a teenage girl giving him the finger and Williams' expression changing ever so slightly to a love mixed with wistful hope. "RV" presents the story of a family that goes from hating Dad to one that's willing to tolerate him -- this is what it offers as a tenderhearted journey. It's not in any way a satire, and yet its vision of American family life is as damning as anything the most bitter satirist could devise.
In "RV," the family has planned a trip to Hawaii, but Dad (Williams) has to go to Colorado on a business trip or else lose his job. Afraid to tell his unloving family about this turn of events -- they'll just think he's a loser or criticize him for caring too much about business -- he cashes in the Hawaii vacation and rents a recreation vehicle, presenting a camping vacation in Colorado as the ultimate in fun and togetherness. And so, for the next 45 minutes of screen time, the daughter does nothing but snipe at him about missing out on Hawaii. She acts as if she had a right to Hawaii, or as if she had paid for the tickets herself.
The rest of the movie consists of Williams' crashing the RV into things and getting abused. The family is without love and without the possibility of redemption, laden with possessions and obligations, soulless and hostile to outsiders. This the movie considers normal. Presented as freakish is another family (headed by Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth) that's generous, loving and happy. The movie's jaundiced perspective would have us regard these folks as chirpy, stupid and silly. Yet even allowing for the condescending treatment, they come across a lot better than the protagonists. So much for Hollywood family values.
Speaking of family values, this film is rated PG by the MPAA, an organization devoted to making sure that no child ever sees breasts until they either pop up in the mirror on their own or present themselves in the backseat of a car. But if I were running the MPAA, I'd put a restricted label on "RV." I wouldn't want kids to think they could talk to their parents like that and get away with it.
-- Advisory: For crude humor and innuendo and a scene in which the daughter sings the suggestive "Cherry Bomb," seemingly without knowing that the JOAN JETT-Kim Fowley classic is 30 years old.
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