by Ken B.

In Robin Williams’ illustrious career, he’s had  many ups and downs, and we try to hold on to the “up’s” as best we can. But occasionally, there comes a down either so low or so publicized before  we knew it was so low it must be mentioned. Between the two somewhere lies RV. It’s a “comedy”, apparently, and I’m not going to beat around the bush pretending to mask my overt dislike for  this shameless insult of what “family  entertainment” can be considered.  Resorting to an unfunny Sylvester Stallone  reference less than 90 seconds in, it’s a clear indicator of the level of “quality”  that can be expected here.

Williams portrays Bob Munro, an executive at a popular California beverage company, and head of a  dysfunctional family. A rather materialistic wife (CHERYL HINES), a hostile  teenage daughter (JOANNA “JOJO”  LEVESQUE), and a preteen weight lifting hip hop blasting son (JOSH HUTCHERSON).

For a somewhat unbearable 99 minute runtime with a total of three jokes I found somewhat amusing, something that slightly resembles a story unfolds. Bob is assigned to present a merger proposal for a grassroots company branch in Boulder, CO, and he sees this as a chance to have his family bond – in a rather disgusting RV.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld, who has been a cinematographer on such great films as Big, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and the first Men In Black  inserts himself in a small role as “Irv”, the RV dealer and so this family adventure begins.

A brief scene passes straight through the most amusing of the three one liners out of the seemingly infinite flat attempts and they’re off. Commenting on the story, it can slide in well with the horrible one liners without the daunting task of making you invest in this family, and you wish nothing more at low points than a detour including a quite rickety foot bridge.

There are infinitely better roles that can be seen from all of the actors involved, and why 95 percent of this film seems phoned in I really cannot say, because it is something I do not understand. But don’t worry, intersped throughout all the poor jokes, bad characters, and what can only be seen as pointless filler, there’s always room for a geyser of human waste. Yeah, that’s mixed in this film, and you wish all of the sub-mediocrity would shoot out with it, but no, it doesn’t.

At the 2006 Golden Raspberry Awards, this film was awarded a specialty prize: “Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment”. And with this movie’s lack of humor, characters worth caring for, and weird end credit musical sequences, you couldn’t agree more.

• 0.5 Stars
• Ken B.