A family travels across the United States in an RV. Along the way they encounter all sorts of mishaps and adventures. From that short synopsis you might think I was describing the hilarious National Lampoon’s Vacation film with Chevy Chase. Unfortunately I’m not. Robin Williams, who is arguably one of the funniest comedic actors of all time, isn’t being very particular where he gets his film material from these days. In fact, I expected more out of Barry Sonnenfeld as well. When you team creative people of that caliber, you just have a right to expect more than a decidedly unfunny ripoff of a classic comedy film. Williams is certainly capable of better humor than Chevy Chase. He’s got so much more energy and delivery. Sonnenfeld is the genius who gave us things like Men In Black and the recent wickedly funny series, Pushing Daisies. Of course, he also brought us the disaster that was the Will Smith Wild Wild West film in the 90’s, so maybe we don’t have so much of a right to expect more after all.
Bob Munro (Williams) is either an advertisement executive or a public relations executive with a big company. He’s tasked with nurturing a merger between a large soda company and a mom and pop soda company. His job is to convince the little guys to go with the big boys. He’s bucking for a promotion when one of his daughter’s friends makes a fool out of him at a company social gathering. As punishment Bob must forfeit the Hawaii vacation he’s got planned with the family and work directly on the presentation for the merger. Bob doesn’t want his wife to know he caved into the boss, so he rents an obnoxious looking RV and announces he’s decided to scrap Hawaii in favor of a cross country trip to Colorado, where the business meeting just so happens to be. He not only attempts to keep the business related motive for the trip a secret from his wife, but he’s also not telling his boss how he’s planning on getting to the meeting. Along the way the Munro family crosses paths with the Gornicke family, headed by Jeff Daniels. The overeager and overfriendly Gornickes aren’t really the Munros’ cup of tea, and they spend a lot of time trying to ditch the hicksville clan. Mayhem ensues; just not very funny mayhem.
Robin Williams appears somewhat reserved in the film. He never has that explosive breakout moment that has been his trademark. Most of the film he’s playing straight man to Jeff Daniels, who has about the funniest part in the picture. Still, even Daniels and his Gornicke clan are so over the top that within 10 minutes of meeting them we don’t like them any more than the Munros do. Unfortunately we don’t end up feeling all that good about them either. Cheryl Hines plays Jamie, Bob’s wife. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but she never seems at all comfortable in the role. The kids are the stereotypical rebellious youngsters who are embarrassed by their parents and can’t wait to get away from them. Of course, you know from the start you’re going to get one of those family epiphany moments where everyone begins to appreciate each other. Just like it happens in real life, isn’t it? The only slight standout here is pop star JoJo Levesque who plays daughter Cassie. I think she’s trying to play a little younger than she is, but she shows some small flashes of acting chops. Usually the supporting cast in a Robin Williams film are mere fodder for him to chew up and spit out. Not so here.
None of the comedic moments are terribly original and never stand up to the inevitable Vacation comparisons. You never get that dead aunt or dog dragging moment that makes the film memorable long after you’ve seen it. The film relies far too much on the outrageous and obnoxious behavior of the Gornickes and a few unoriginal sight gags. The exploding septic tank is probably the most memorable moment, and that tells you everything you need to know right there. I think what the film suffers from most is a lack of chemistry. All of the actors appear to be in their own place doing their own thing, almost independent of each other. No one really gels with anyone else, so that there’s never that great setup for a truly hilarious moment. When it’s over, we realize we’ve hardly cracked a smile.
Video
RV is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1. Everything is pretty bright and gay, so that the colors do jump out at you, particularly that lime green RV. The overall detail was actually pretty weak for an HD presentation. I don’t know if the problem exists with the source or the transfer, but the picture itself doesn’t look very strong. There isn’t an incredible amount of detail to be found anywhere in the film. While colors are actually very good, there are moments where even colors appear to be soft and often blend into each other. Some of the wilderness scenes lack strong color or definition. Black levels are average at best. The cause of the weak image might have something to do with this being an MPEG-2 codec averaging just 16-18 mbps. You do get a full 1080p image, but it looks more like a solid standard DVD than anything else.
Audio
The PCM lossless 5.1 track is somewhat better than the image. You get a solid 4.6 mbps across the running time. The mix is a good one, allowing clever use of surrounds during the many Munro mishaps. Dialog is clear and easy to understand. Unfortunately even the music is reproduced with good clarity and plenty of dynamic range. I say unfortunately because there is a musical number by the Gornickes that is absolutely annoying down to its core. But hey, you’ll hear it all in wonderful surround sound digital quality. Oh boy! Of course the film is front loaded in sound. This isn’t much of an audibly stimulating affair, but I got enough of those moments that I was overall more pleased with the sound than anything else in the film.
Special Features
All of the features are in SD.
Telestrator Commentary: This is actually pretty cool and the first one I’ve encountered. This is a Barry Sonnenfeld commentary, but he’s able to draw on the screen. It’s like those coach’s scribble devices you see watching football.
Barry Sonnenfeld – The Kosher Cowboy: It appears that Sonnenfeld created a persona as he directed the film, wearing western outfits during the production. It’s an inside joke that feels like one.
JOJO – The Pop Princess: This short 5 minute feature looks at pop star JOJO and has her talk about the experience as well as being a music star. Other cast and crew members also talk about the young actress.
RV Nation – The Culture Of Road Warriors: Apparently both Daniels and Sonnenfeld are real life RV’ers. Who would have thought?
Robin Williams – A Family Affair: This short feature has the cast and crew gushing over how neat Robin Williams is. Just once I want to see one of these things where a co-star rants and raves about what a butthole their fellow actor was the entire shoot. If Williams was this funny off camera, what happened?
The Scoop On Poop: In case you were wondering how they did that exploding septic line.
Final Thoughts
Just when you thought you were finally safe, the end credits, it gets worse. These have to be the absolutely worst, most nauseating end credits I’ve seen. I know what you’re thinking? End credits? Who watches the dang end credits? I do, that’s who. Much to the horror of theater cleanup crews here in Tampa, I stay to the bitter end, and let me tell you, this was a bitter end. That aside, I think even diehard Robin Williams fans will be disappointed in RV. Rent it if you absolutely must see it. A better idea would be to get out that old copy of Vacation and watch that instead. Looking at the credits, you would expect this to be a very sweet funny film. Robin Williams, Jeff Daniels, Barry Sonnenfeld? This has to be great. “Here’s where you made your critical mistake.”
