Johnson Family Vacation (2004)

The Johnson Family Vacation is just a re-hash of all the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, but i seem to remember them being funny; hmm? Perhaps they forgot to re-hash the the funny bits.The plot is obvious, all the gags and comedy situations have been seen before (more than once) and it drags on too long.On the plus side it is a very inoffensive family movie that may make you smile occasionally, and for that i give Cedric the entertainer great credit, to raise a smile with the weak material he has to deliver, is a work of genius.4/10 as it is, without Cedric it could have been pushing pretty hard for a one.

This was way too long of a movie. The jokes were boring. Too bad such really good actors were thrown into a pretty bad movie. If they were trying to copy National Lampoon movies, they weren't even close. More often than not, you can't do a classic justice. From the start to finish, I just couldn't get interested. I watched it hoping that it would improve, and not even the jacuzzi scene made me laugh. I've always liked Steve Harvey but his part had him acting incredibly stupid and nowhere near funny. Even in the end, he was still being stupid. It was a waste of nearly two hours. I would suggest that instead of watching this movie you read a book. Or better yet, take a walk.

Johnson Family Vacation is a very stupid comedy that's really not worth watching. Cedric the Entertainer plays Nate Johnson, a family man who agrees to take his brood across country to Missouri for the annual family reunion. Can his dysfunctional family survive the trip without killing each other? The plot is very generic and the execution is nothing new. The movie is so bland that there's no reason to actually go out and see it. The cast makes this film a bit better but they don't seem to be really be trying. Cedric the Entertainer and Vanessa L. Williams both play their roles decently. Solange Knowles and Bow Wow play their kids and both don't really give memorable performances. Shannon Elizabeth was probably the best part about the film, too bad she's in it for about ten minutes. Steve Harvey has a small role as Nate's brother. Every second he is on screen though, makes the film very hard to watch as he is not funny at all. Christopher Erskin directs his first film and he can hopefully improve if he decides to make another one. The writers got very lazy in this film as most of the jokes fall flat. There may be a funny one here or there but that's not enough. This wouldn't had been problem if the running time wasn't 110 minutes. Since it is so long, there aren't enough jokes to sustain its running time. Also this film feels a lot longer then 110 minutes. When compared to other films, its better then The Cookout and Soul Plane. The National Lampoons road trip movies are a lot better and you should stick with those. In the end, this a very generic film that's not worth watching, though its pretty inoffensive. Rating 4/10, skip this unless your a die-hard fan of any of the stars involved.

I will not give away most of the story. But maybe the fact that I was raised on the original vacation movies, I had a hard time accepting this as a remake. I do think Cedrick the entertainer and Vanessa Williams did a great job in their roles, but the remake could never hold a candle to the original Vacation or any of the sequels for that matter. (except for Christmas vacation 2).I did find the first part of the movie very entertaining, but I somehow got lost in the sudden change of the story, where the Johnson family Finally makes it to the reunion, and has to turn around and leave. Although, the fact that it was one wrong turn after another, and a story of a family coming together, I must give it some credit for sticking to some of the original "vacation" movie. I would not recommend it to someone who loves the original vacation movies.