Thursday, March 30, 2006

It stands for Re-Volting

As problematic as the "urban remake" trend is in Hollywood, there's one thing worse: when the urban remakes subsequently get made again with white people back in the leading roles. Okay, the new Robin Williams vehicle R.V. may not be a direct remake of Johnson Family Vacation; it will probably rip off Vacation as much as the latter did, but it's not like Hollywood couldn't come up with two independent ideas that shitty. Incidentally, didn't you think we'd passed the point in time where the words "Robin Williams vehicle" could still be used in that order and make any sense? Though we've certainly passed the point where such words would be considered appealing - right around Patch Adams, I think.

When I first saw that this film existed I thought, "Great, an excuse for Robin Williams to mug like a maniac." That might actually be preferable to the real film; Williams' insanity is occasionally amusing, whereas the trailer is a black hole from which no comedy is allowed to escape. Williams' last starring role in a full-out comedy was in 1997's Flubber, so it may just be that he's forgotten how exactly one makes other people laugh (not that Flubber made anyone over the age of eleven laugh); the comedy here is apparently supposed to be "This family doesn't like each other, and look at their huge RV!" Gold. I'd almost guess it was intended as an inspirational family dramedy if not for the redneck jokes and the scene where the RV's waste system turns into a literal geyser of shit. As opposed to the film, which will be merely a figurative geyser of shit.

R.V. trailer (Yahoo! Movies)


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