Johnson Family Vacation

JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION is an all-ages comedy that breezily resolves family problems and offers some good clean fun along the way. Closely modeled after National Lampoon's VACATION films, star Cedric the Entertainer puts a modern slant on similar scenes and setups first introduced by comedian Chevy Chase. Both Steve Harvey and Cedric (who have collaborated on numerous projects including THE STEVE HARVEY SHOW and Spike Lee's THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY) have successfully revived an old-school, Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder kind of comedy here. There's an amusing prayer scene where Harvey and Cedric try to outdo each other through the word of God. But mostly, this is Cedric's film and it shows in everything he does. Just easing himself into a too-hot hot tub is a winning stand up routine in itself. The story follows Nate Johnson (Cedric), your basic insurance nerd at odds with his teenage children DJ (rapper Bow Wow) and Nikki (Solange Knowles), and his estranged wife Dorothy (luminous Vanessa Williams). Nate's mission is to road trip from L.A. to the Johnson family reunion in Missouri with a goal to snag the coveted Family of the Year trophy and trump Nate's painfully competitive, loudmouth brother (Harvey). A few cases of mistaken identity, a few random opportunities for hilarity (such as a wrestling match with a pet alligator), and a couple of encounters with the law, and the family finally reaches the reunion where they pull together a cool song-and-dance routine and set their sights on the huge trophy.