I have liked Robin Williams for years and have seen and enjoyed many of his movies. I have been wanting to see RV mainly just because he was in it. I recently saw it and did really enjoy it.
Bob and Jamie Munro were planning a family vacation to Hawaii with their two children, Cassie and Carl. Trouble popped up with Bob’s job, and if he didn’t cancel his trip to Hawaii to go to a presentation in Colorado with his boss Todd, he’d be fired. Bob didn’t know how he’d explain it to his family and then he came up with an idea to rent a RV and drive to Colorado with his family for their vacation. Jamie and the kids didn’t react well to the change in plans and they reluctantly left on the trip. Things started off badly when Bob had trouble even driving the RV and only got worse from there. They met another family, the Gornickes, at the first site they stopped at. Travis, Marie Jo and their three children seemed a bit bizarre, especially when they shared that they lived in their converted bus and traveled constantly. Bob and Jamie had to keep dodging the Gornickes during their trip. Bob was trying to make the trip fun for the family while trying to get to the presentation without letting them know that work was the real reason for the change of plans.
The plot for RV really wasn’t that original. Several movies have been made over the years dealing with families going on vacations and then having things go wrong. Probably the most well known, and most entertaining, have been the Vacation series of movies featuring the Griswold family and their disastrous vacations. I did think that RV had a lot in common with Vacation, the first movie with the Griswolds that had them driving across the country on a vacation and dealing with many problems. The reasons for the drive across the country were different in RV. The Monro family was in a much larger vehicle and had a different set of problems to handle. Bob ended up in some unique situations, much like Clark did. I even thought at one point when something rather crazy happened to Bob that these things would have happened to Clark if he had taken his family on a trip in an RV. Cassie and Carl didn’t want to go on the trip and were vocal in sharing their unhappiness. Audrey and Russ did the same things in all of the Vacation movies. Bob got very stressed out during the trip without ever flipping out like Clark always did. The fact that I thought this movie was similar to the Vacation movies didn’t make me like it any less. There were enough differences for RV to be very entertaining. People that enjoyed the Vacation movies, especially the first one, may also like RV.
I thought that RV was a very funny movie. Several funny moments were shared in the trailer, bu there were several others that popped up that hadn’t been in the trailer. It does seem like most of the time anymore all the funny things are in the trailers. The movie did use some gross humor, including a very nasty scene involving Bob emptying the sewage tank on the RV. Several times throughout the movie, very silly things were done to add humor. That didn’t bother me because I did think they were funny. Much of what was done for humor wasn’t realistic, but it worked in this movie. Everyone in the theater when I saw it was laughing throughout the movie. This was a very silly, fun, light hearted movie over all even though it did include a few more serious moments. I didn’t mind that the movie was predictable overall because there were enough things that happened, usually to add humor, that I didn’t expect throughout the movie to keep it interesting and entertaining. I do think that people really need to be in the mood for a silly comedy to enjoy this one. There wasn’t any nudity and very little swearing, so this can be a good choice for families as long as people know what to expect going in.
Bob had a close relationship with Cassie when she was younger. As she got older, they drifted apart and she now acted like she never wanted to be near him. Bob didn’t have the best relationship with Carl either, probably at least partially because he spent so much time working, trying to provide a good life for his family. They were important to him and he loved him very much, which is why he came up with the idea for the trip in the first place. He was trying to keep his job and still have a family vacation. He did have good intentions that fell apart once the trip was under way. Robin Williams was great in the part. He was very funny, which I did expect before seeing the movie. He is very talented, able to play silly characters like Bob as well as more serious parts.
None of the other characters were as developed as Bob was since the movie did seem to focus more on him and what he was trying to accomplish during the trip. He and Jamie had been married for several years and were happy. She wasn’t happy about the idea of the trip but came around when Bob said he wanted to spend more time with the kids. Cheryl Hines was fine in the part. Her part in this movie was bigger than the one she had in Herbie: Fully Loaded. Cassie and Carl were rather flat characters. Neither one was happy about the trip. Joanna “JoJo” Levesque and Josh Hutcherson were fine in the parts. Josh Hutcherson had a part in Kicking & Screaming and Zathura. Todd, Bob’s boss, showed up in a few scenes. He wasn’t understanding about anything and had a major germ phobia. Will Arnett was fine in the part. He recently provided a voice for a character in Ice Age: The Meltdown.
The Gornicke family was a bit different. They were living in what looked like an old bus that had been turned into an RV. The family actually lived in it and traveled all year long, home schooling their three children. Travis and Marie Jo were very nice and just wanted to be helpful. They could be very overwhelming to people though. They weren’t in a lot of movie, but they did help to create some entertaining scenes. Jeff Daniels was good as Travis. I’ve seen him in several movies including Speed and . Kristin Chenoweth was perfect as Marie Jo. She was just happy and bubbly and fit perfectly with the part. She has small parts in Bewitched and The Pink Panther. She has been in several musicals on Broadway as well. There really wasn’t anything special about any of the actors playing their children.
Main Cast
Will Arnett - Todd Kristin Chenoweth - Marie Jo Gornicke Jeff Daniels - Travis Gornicke Alex Ferris - Billy Gornicke Cheryl Hines - Jamie Munro Josh Hutcherson - Carl Munro Joanna “JoJo” Levesque - Cassie Munro Hunter Parrish - Earl Munro Chloe Sonnenfeld - Moon Munro Robin Williams - Bob Munro
Barry Sonnenfeld - Director
RV was an entertaining, funny movie that could be a good pick for families. The movie did have some faults and was silly in many places, so it isn’t a movie for everyone. Fans of Robin Williams should check it out.
A family film for the Instant Messenger age RV takes a humorous look at a mostly functional suburban family's attempt to get away from it all on a rar...More at Family Video
In Columbia Pictures family adventure-comedy RV an overworked executive, Bob Munro (Robin Williams), persuades his wife and children to give up their ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.