Customer Reviews

RV

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Okay, I actually loved this movie...I thought it was funny and entertaining and just what I needed to see, something pointless and yet does the trick perfectly. You can always rely of Robin Williams for that. No, it's not the smartest comedy but it's not like we thought we were walking into 'Fargo' people, we were walking into a family vacation comedy that's full of slapstick laughs and gross humor, and that should be what you expected. Robin Williams plays Bob, a man whose a slave to his job, a job he's afraid he may lose. He's so afraid that he actually cancels his family's vacation to Hawaii and takes them on an RV trip to Colorado with hopes to sneak off to a meeting with his germaphobe boss in order to keep his job. Along the way (of course keeping his true intentions secret) he tries to recreate the bond he once had with his family. This of course starts of shakey since neither his wife (Cheryl Hines) nor his children, teenage daughter Cassie (JoJo) whose going through her rebelous "i hate mommy and daddy" stage and his young son Carl (Josh Hutcherson) whose insecure about his small size, are supportive. But after all the problems with sewage, weird hillbilly RV neighbors the Gornicke family (led by Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth) and some pesky racoons their is a family bonding moment that is shattered by a bowel problem (sort-of) a sinking RV and the exposure of Bob's secret meeting. In the end, RV may be predictable family fun, but the point still remains that it's family fun, and that's gotta amount to something.

I've read reviews of RV, and they uniformly panned the movie as piffle; humorous tripe that reinforced family values and light humor, wasting the talents of Robin Williams.

Give me a break.

See, the implication that the family road trip movie is somehow a form of high art is fallacious to begin with. Although my family (and my wife's family) venerates the National Lampoon vacation movies as the ultimate in comedy, the truth of the matter is it's all a string of silly gags and ridiculous foils. It takes real skill to play a perpetually optimistic patriarch in the face of modern indignities and family squabbles. If anything, the family road trip movie is really just a condensed version of half the sitcoms on television. And there's a reason those sitcoms are still around, even though the critics patiently explain over and over how dumb they are.

They're right. It IS dumb. But then, so is having to deal with the inanities of modern life. RV is merely an update of a long established tradition of pitting a man (Bob Munro played by Robin Williams), his hot wife (Cheryl Hines), his teenage daughter (Joanna Levesque) and pre-teen son (Josh Hutcherson) against the world and seeing who comes out on top. And we root for Bob all the way.

What makes RV so appealing is that it doesn't deviate at all from the formula but cleverly updates all the trials and tribulations. Bob's affection for his adorable daughter at two years old is sharply contrasted by her wisecracking personality as a teenager. How many parents stare at their kids and wonder what happened to the darling who never wanted to leave their side? Bob's career hinges on finishing a presentation, and much of the movie is taken up with his personal struggle to find a signal for his Blackberry. Road warriors feel his pain. And as an older, funnier man, Bob constantly has to watch his back as younger, inexperienced climbers try to steal the spotlight.

In short, the Monroe struggles are the new struggles of the middle class. Sure, Clark Griswold didn't have these problems, but then the National Lampoon movies were made decades ago. RV brings it all up to date with one difference: unlike Cousin Eddie and his brood, the country folk are actually the wiser and more decent family. We could learn a lot from their home values, preaches Brother Sonnenfeld. Maybe he's right.

When RV was playing at my parents' house, we were waiting for my brother to join us to watch a DVD. Instead, we watched (and laughed at) RV all the way through.

In the mode of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S FAMILY VACATION is not a negative thing. This is an energetic and often quite funny family film. The theater we saw it in (Palm Desert, California) was nearly full with a cross section of seniors to kids. People laughed together and often.

The movie is fast paced with great outdoor cinematography. The plot has some twists and surprises and a real treat is Jeff Daniels and Kristen Chenoweth as parents of a permanent RV living (Christian?) family that are not treated as buffoons or easy targets for satire.

And that's the other thing that I liked about this light-hearted comedy; i.e., it has a moral center. Without being preachy in any way, the right things happen as all the loose ends are tied up in an unexpected (to me, anyway) and satisfying ending.

It's nice to see Robin Wiliams in a family film comedy again.

Jaded newspaper and TV reviewers weren't all that enthusiastic about this film, but audiences sure are. It was the top box office new movie the week it opened.

Better than expected and recommended.

Robin Williams is one of the most brillant comic talents on the planet. Barry Sonnenfield is a good director with a few hits (Men In Black) and a few failures (Wild Wild West). However paired together in RV, this is a match made is cinematic hell

Williams can make a bad film (Father's Day, Popeye) better, he can scare you (one Hour Photo, Insomina) and can make a great film (Mrs Doubtfire, Good Morning Vietnam)into a comedy classic. Here he has so very little to do ...a few pieces of slapstick business and a lot of deadpanning for the camera, he could have phoned in this film role. And if you have a great comedy talent (like williams) doing NOTHING, the rest of the cast must be either coasting or overworking. ITS COASTING HERE!

I love the talents of Jeff Daniels, Cheryl Hines and Kristen Chenoweth, but in this vehicle they are wasted

Very little of RV is funny..sorry to say with the talent in front and behind the camera involved, you could have made a funny film..and all we get in MUD in our collected faces from the road

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

I must say I didn't think much of this movie when I first saw the previews in theaters, and so I let it slide to DVD before renting it. And I was suprised. It's not just a stolen script from the famous "Vacation" movie with chevy chase, who was a father that acknowledged their family problems and tried to fix them by going of vacation. This revolves around the theme of a workaholic father, the "perfect" stay at home wife, and their two spoiled kids, in which the father who is actually using this RV expedition as a selfish work tool, feeding the poor system. And what a better setting for a comedy than the roads of america in a huge rolling tin can, or turdmobile, whichever you prefer. Robin Williams was the perfect choice for the Father roll and did a masterful job at portraing it. And in the end, the family finds out what it really means to be a family, and what greatness it can actually be. A real delight to watch, and a suprise. So again, another case of not judging by the first short preview.

The large picture of this movie is probably missed by most folks. It is about a family who is in relative distress and them finding what makes a family a family again. The on the go, upper middle class family with spoiled kids, a trophy wife, and a workaholic father, sign of the times. Quite a bit different than the "Vacation" movies of chevy chase. Robin Williams was a great choice to pull this role off. Overall a very good movie, enjoyable, and I hope you like it to.

This is a super family movie for all ages, I didn't think the language was bad, in fact, it's not as bad as what's being said behind you in the checkout lane at the supermarket. This is a super funny movie and I was glad to see Robin Williams performing at his best! It's a story of a disconnected suburban family that has surrendered to the complications of summer sports schedules, rushed suppers, family conversations by instant messaging and email or yelling across rooms, office travel and deadlines, and loosing touch with children that are growing up. Instead of the long talked about Hawaiin cruise, the family decides to go on a family RV adventure in THE ROLLING TURD, according to his pre-teen son, as to accommodate dad so he can sneak off for an off site business presentation. Dad frantically prepares this presentation in the wee hours of the night, hiding in a single stall bathroom, so his family doesn't know he's doing business. His inability to achieve cell signal to send his long promised spreadhseet file to his panicing boss compromises his future with the company. He hops from RV campsites, to hole in the wall diners, to hilltops where they remote camp, all secretly awaiting a strong enough signal to send his file. Out of desperation, he makes the choice to attend the meeting in person, only after his lap top is stolen at a rest stop. Along the way, they meet up with an unlikely RV family who befriends them and won't leave them alone. They're a little too hoe down'en, chipper, and perky for the suburban family. Don't we all have a couple or friend like this? They just don't take a hint, or no for an answer! With Dad's shifty decoys, he is able to pull off his presentation in person to his boss and attending firm but not without a price. The family learns to reconnect with each other and nature. This is a hilarious movie that will have your whole family laughing throughout! Robin Williams can make anything funny! I saw this at the theater but plan to buy it as soon as it comes out to stores! Super funny, laughing that will cause your eyes to tear up! Watch it for a real good time!

RECOMMENDED!

I really thought this movie was hilarious.

The movie is about an executive that has to cancel his family vacation to Hawaii to make a sales presentation in Colorado. He gets the idea to make it into a road trip for the whole unwilling family... RV style. The mishaps and RV experiences are hilarious. Robins Williams was great (and I usually don't care for him much).

Its mostly about family bonding and its fun for the whole family but if you're an RVer or have even done some camping, you'll get an extra kick out of it.

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.

My family got this movie thinking it'd be just ok but instead we found it extremely funny. It started out just my mom and I watching it but when my brother and father heard us laughing our heads off it became the four of us. Even the gross parts were pretty funny. Although it was a little predictable we found ourselves yelling "Oh my gosh I can't believe it!" It showed family coming together too which is really important in a family movie. That's why I give this movie 5 stars and two thumbs up because it's a great movie to watch together with the whole family!