RV (2006)
Director
Starring
Last On
14:00-16:00
Sun 25th Jul 2010 120m
Fiver
Synopsis
In this 21st-century answer to National Lampoon's Vacation, stressed out executive Bob Munro (Robin Williams) swaps his planned Hawaiian vacation for an RV (that's recreational vehicle) road trip. He's been ordered to attend a meeting in Colorado, but the family - who are in the dark about his work commitments - are suitably unimpressed, particularly when they are befriended by a creepily nice clan led by Jeff Daniels. There are a few snappy one-liners here, but director Barry Sonnenfeld seems more interested in staging predictable slapstick set pieces, including a depressingly large number of toilet gags. It's hard to work out what's more disheartening: the fact that Williams has reverted to treacly family comedies after a welcome flirtation with edgy dramas, or that Sonnenfeld seems to have lost all the dark flair he brought to hits like The Addams Family and Men in Black. The best performances come from a couple of stars of the small screen - Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines as Williams's sardonic wife and, best of all, Will Arnett (Arrested Development) as his monstrous boss.