Johnson Family Vacation 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: An uneasy collection of gags as flat as roadkill and insincere sentimentality, Johnson Family Vacation appears to have been thrown together like a teenage boy packing a suitcase on the night before a trip he never wanted to take in the first place. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: Packing all the tired trappings of the raunchy road-trip genre, this loutish comedy plays out as a loosely threaded collection of shrill jokes and cliched sight gags. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: Johnson Family Vacation is simply a bad trip. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This is a real mess, with out-of-focus shots and continuity lapses that suggest a production in chaos. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Passable, uninspired entertainment, as harmless as watching home movies of your own vacation -- and about as exciting. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: A comedy with a couple of big laughs but many more missed opportunities. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Big disappointment. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A surprisingly family-friendly comedy. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It's a sign of trouble when watching a movie prompts nostalgia for the movie it's ripping off, particularly when that movie wasn't any good. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Boring, mediocre movie. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Johnson Family Vacation is no groundbreaker, but it's an easygoing, earthy comedy that's a good showcase for the robust comic gifts of Cedric the Entertainer. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: The few funny bits confirm an old adage: See the trailer, skip the movie. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A wheezing contraption, which strands Cedric the Entertainer behind the wheel and forces him to motor a collection of laugh-and-learn wacky situations by sheer force of his outsize charm. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: If laughs are the currency of any comedy, then this one pays minimum wage. Read more

Matt Weitz, Dallas Morning News: The film does have some funny moments, but they don't come consistently. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Sub-Griswold stuff. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: [Doesn't have] anything on its tiny mind besides cheap laughs. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Things feel choppy and unfinished, and there are signs of desperate, post-production efforts to do a quick fix -- badly looped dialogue, awkwardly inserted closeups, too much music. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: I'd like to believe I could watch Cedric the Entertainer all day long. The tedious comedy Johnson Family Vacation puts a strain on that theory. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Cedric the Entertainer stars in a long drive in search of a family comedy, which is found too late and amounts to too little. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Johnson Family Vacation, a played-out spin on the old Chevy Chase Vacation movies, is one of those bombs that makes you sit and curse the darkness. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A routine cross-country comedy that feels exactly like a series of adventures recycled out of every other cross-country comedy. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The direction on Johnson Family Vacation is numbingly slack; the synapses between the scenes don't spark effortlessly, as they should, and the whole enterprise feels dragged-down and belabored. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Vacations are supposed to make you feel better, and Johnson Family Vacation does just that. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: This family vacation runs out of gas long before its destination. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Moviegoers hankering for another installment in Chevy Chase's vacation series may get a quick fix from Johnson Family Vacation. Just don't expect the film to add anything to the time-worn vacation-from- hell genre. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: An African-American road trip that mostly squanders some very gifted performers. Read more

David Ng, Village Voice: Like Bow Wow's exasperated upstart, you too will be asking, 'Are we there yet?' not 20 minutes in. Read more