Are We There Yet? (2005)

Rating-3/10Are We There Yet is a comedy travel movie that hits the mark, the mark being at bad that is. The movie has little humour and therefore very few laughs and it seems just overly slapstick. I think the jokes also are the main reason this fails as a piece and although some parts give it a good go, in the end the negativity surrounding this is all about the comedy.The plot feels so overlong and drawn out, the thing is the movie is only about 95 minutes long yet it feels like a marathon after a while, just little substance and not enough to do for the characters involved. I think yet again the jokes suffer from the lack of plot involved here, the physical jokes can work but then there are too many and after a while you just feel this is some kind of movie only made for the kids and kids only.Ice Cube is the main man of the movie and he is OK, he does I guess what he supposed to do but still the character of Nick is never fully explored and feels left out. Nia Long as Suzanne is OK too but yet again feels unexplored and she appears at the worst of times in the movie, the film is not timed out very well. The kids here Lindsay(Aleisha Allen) and Kevin(Phillip Daniel Bolden) are so mean, and not in a movie like this kind of way, they just seem too brutal and really really annoying, they hardly even redeem themselves.The movie is not written or directed very well, the direction isn't the worst thing but never does anything to save the project, Brian Levant should have done better. A lot of the weak jokes derive from the directing and Levant seems to fail summoning any of his past work(which are very physically humour leaning) and making it good. The script as mentioned is not well and it feels almost too silly even if it is blatantly based at children.The movie does have a little bit of heart and it can feel just slightly actually sweet, this only happens in parts and to be the fair the characters make it hard for the heart to come through, but done a little better and this could have been emotional. I think yet again the humour drowns out the emotion, when you truly feel the characters connect in a good way, some stupid thing happens and it all gets ruined, again!I think in conclusion about the laughter, the jokes are crass and under made, they feel half thought out and to predictable and seen before or to be funny or near original. I think also with the characters when they are meant to be evolving into this nicer and better person, they stay bad, I won't try to ruin the plot but in the end you'll see exactly what I mean, just no audience or character connection.The movie overall is a reminder of movies made to offend the senses and make only those who laugh at literally anything, well laugh. It feels immature, lazy and done before and although it isn't as awful as maybe movies that literally just seem constantly offensive to the sense, this certainly packs a bitter punch with the jokes too.

Im driving down I - 5 with a trailer of logs. When I hear on the C.B. "Breaker,Breaker 2 - 6. This is Big Al on I - 5 mile marker 16. I got 2 little lambs snatched by the big bad wolf. I need help,pronto!" I replied "10 - 4 Big Al. Lets squash this bug!" So after I intimidated the Navigator into the right lane,I pulled in front of him and slowed down. Then Al pulled to the Navigators left. The next thing I know Al put the Navigator into the guard rail. When I said "squash this bug",I wasn't literal. This movie portrays the truck driver in a descant and fair manor. Thank you Brian Levant,Stevan Banks,Claudia Grazioso,J Stem, and David Weise.M C Gainey drives the Freightliner 18 wheeler. M C Gainey is a permanent A List actor.Nichelle Nichols performance is outstanding!!Nia Long is hot!!---One Truck Drivers Opinion---erldwgstruckermovies.com

All through out I found this film annoying. I can say without a word of regret that I hate these family movies where bratty kids bug the hell out of a step dad or whatever their relationship may be. We have seen it done a thousand times, if not more.All throughout I found the film annoying. Kids tearing up expensive stuff isn't all that funny and these two kid's acting was terrible!! Then there was the over doing of its 'blackness'. Hip hop plays constantly, there are chains, Escalades, token white guy, single mom, eh, the list goes on with a very narrow-minded view on black people. It was just plain stupid. A deer fighting Ice Cube, yeah, you would think the director would have just made him pull out a shotgun and bust a 1-8-7 on the damn thing.

The first thing that sprang to my mind when watching this film is just why would somebody like Ice Cube, a man raised on the streets of California, a man with a history of acting in some good films (Boyz In The Hood, Three Kings) choose to take the lead role in this family road comedy, 'Are We There Yet?'! Not only that but choose to produce it with his company Cube Vision! And to think they've made a sequel! The most basic of plots, 'Are We There Yet?' focuses upon Nick (Ice Cube)and his attempts to woo a divorced mother of two Suzanne (Nia Long) into dating him. When Suzanne is stuck at work in Vancouver it falls to Nick to save the day and drive the kids some 350 plus miles to be with their mother at New Year.OK, a lack of plot doesn't mean a bad comedy, however when you go the whole 90 minutes without uttering so much as a chuckle, now thats a bad comedy. The problem is the script is just so clunky and formulaic, if anybody did get any laughs from this it would be in anticipation of a constant stream of ever failing scripted gags. On top of this the success of the family comedy is so often built on the development of the characters and a likability factor emerging between them and the audience. As people have previously mentioned, the 'Home Alone' franchise is a good example of this because although Macaulay Culkin is mischievous he is still very likable. This is a stark contrast to the two kids in 'Are We There Yet?' Kevin and Lindsey (Philip Bolden and Aleisha Allen) who can only be described as demonic! It is nothing against the kids acting, which is fine, but they are provided with such an unforgiving script that they really don't have a single redeeming feature.If I comment about a film I try to present a balanced opinion yet other than the fact that Ice Cube acted fairly well I can't think of a single good thing to say about this movie. Whilst there is nothing wrong with low-brow humour (farting, puking, sticking tongues out at each other are all present) if done well, every single gag in the film has been done at least a hundred times before, and a whole of a lot better to boot. In conclusion avoid this film and save your money.