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Johnson Family Vacation (2004) More at IMDbPro »

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45 comments in total

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
The Lost Sequel, 16 April 2004
Author: 09322 from The Heartland

Spend a couple of hours with the Griswold, oops, I mean Johnson family as they take to the road for their family reunion.

Cedric the Entertainer supplies the laughs, all seven of them. A sexy female traveler inciting marital tension, being given the wrong car at the dealership, unkempt rural relatives, we've seen it all before.

But what might be the funniest thing of all about this predictable remake of National Lampoon's Vacation is that (Lil') Bow Wow has a higher billing than Vanessa Williams.

But the fact remains that if you are looking for about 90 minutes of profanity free family entertainment which, by the way, is becoming harder and harder to find these days, then maybe The Johnson Family Vacation is just what the doctor ordered.

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9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Cedric is good but the material is weak and the plot development simply lazy, 9 September 2004
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

It is an annual event in the wider Johnson clan to get together for a reunion of food, song and competition – a competition that is always won by Mack Johnson. Despite being separated from his wife, Nate Johnson gets his family together to attend as usual and keep up appearances. With a brand new Navigator truck and a tight time scale, the family of five set out on their road trip only to find themselves having to deal with cement, police, alligators and hitchhikers – and that's all before they get to the reunion.

I generally avoid all-black comedies; not because I am racist but because the opposite is true – and I find that many of these modern blaxploitation comedies are full of racist stereotypes and broad ethnic caricatures. With this film screening on a flight I was on I decided to watch it as I find it very difficult to sleep on planes. I was pleased to find that the film didn't base itself on racist stereotypes and the like and instead went for the more race-neutral approach of road movie broad gags a la Vacation. This is not to say that it is funnier – only easier to watch because it is less offensive to me personally. The plot is very simple but it makes the mistake of not staying simple – instead it adds subplots of separation and treats them seriously. This is a problem because it rounds them off in glib, unconvincing ways that make a joke out of ever having them in the first place – the whole issue of Nate and Dorothy working things out is a perfect example, the supposed focal point of the family contest is another one – it feels tacked on.

The film is not anywhere near as funny as it needed to be to be a good comedy. It has the odd laugh but generally the humour is so very broad and uninspired that it is hard to do anything but raise the occasional smile. Part of the reason it is even slightly funny is due to the good work from Cedric the Entertainer. He isn't great here but he does manage to get laughs from the poor material he is given to deliver. Bow Wow is hardly much of a draw but aside from being an annoying rapper cliché in the making, he does do well alongside Cedric. Williams is an OK actress but here she has nothing to do – she has no laughs and she is betrayed by the script when it comes to the serious side of the film. Knowles looks sexy but that's it – nothing more than that; likewise Soleil is a 'cute kid' and nothing more. Harvey is so poor that I actually wondered if he was the reason that the whole 'family contest' thing was pushed into such a small part of the film.

Overall this is a very average film at best. The plot is terrible at points and just annoyed me in the way that it seemed to just write-off the entire affair in the final section. The laughs come mainly from Cedric who does OK considering the very broad material he has to work with (and with little support from his co-stars). It's good that it more or less avoid the lazy racist stereotyping inherent in the 'black comedy' genre but it would have been nice if they'd replaced it with something worthwhile.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Not worth your time, 27 December 2005
Author: RechRo from United States

I expected this film to be bad, and it met my expectations. You can clearly see the effort of the filmmakers and the actors to be funny, but it just comes off as annoying. The jokes are lame. I found it difficult to merely smile. Cedric should stick to stand-up. As for Bow Wow and Solange, who told them that they could act? It's amazing this ever got made. I would have rather spent my time at the library reading up on capital punishment. Obnoxious, unfunny, just a very long headache. Exaggeration to the point of excess (even over-the-top stuff can get too ridiculous), it's just not worth it. Save your money and your dignity. Rent The Kings of Comedy instead, where Cedric shows how funny he really is.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Original Vacation vs. JFV, 16 February 2005

Author: princess003katana from United States

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.

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15 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
not funny and very bad, 21 February 2005

Author: MLDinTN from TN

This movie is simply not good. It wasn't funny and was a very lame attempt to try something similar to National Lampoon's Vacation. There's hi-jinks at the hotel pool, going out to see silly things, etc... In this, the two parents are separated but are going to the husband's family reunion with the 3 kids. Considering they only spend a couple of hours at the reunion, why did they even go? Bow Wow basically uses this role as self-promotion since he raps. And when they get to the reunion, the relatives are dull and dumb, especially uncle earl.

I can't believe any of the actors would even let their name appear in the credits. If they weren't already famous, this movie would be career suicide. Even the music is terrible.

FINAL VERDICT: A snore fest.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
National Lampoon's African American Vacation., 2 June 2004
Author: tfrizzell from United States

Recently estranged parents Cedric the Entertainer and Vanessa L. Williams come back together to go to Cedric's family reunion. Along for the ride are their three kids (super-cool Lil' Bow Wow, super-hot Solange Knowles and super-cute Gabby Soleil) and a wide variety of mishaps and misadventures as they hit the road together in a new SUV that Cedric has borrowed from a dealership. Naturally their trip from Los Angeles to Missouri will have hilarious consequences along the way. Cedric has ulterior motives to win a "Family of the Year" prize at the reunion, getting it away from older brother Steve Harvey (in a well-timed role). He also has to contend with his mother (Aloma Wright) when he reaches his destination, but first he and his family must over-come ultra-sexy hitchhiker Shannon Elizabeth (who happens to be a black magic priestess) and even an unseen 18-wheeler driver who continues to push Cedric's buttons. "Johnson Family Vacation" is basically an African American version of the "National Lampoon's Vacation" series. Cedric and Williams have the same comedic timing and relationship that Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo shared during their long run. The kids though here are quite better than any throughout the aforementioned series. But the similarities between this movie and those from the previous series are amazing as we have an erotic stranger, a rented vehicle, a road trip, a family get-together and even a take on a Wayne Newton song. In many ways "Johnson Family Vacation" is old hat, but I still liked the film because Cedric is just such a hilarious screen presence. The others all feed off his intensity and Williams is the ultimate "straight lady" in the mix as she just seems out of place with her great looks and outstanding manners (this is a compliment to her by the way). Eventually the movie loses its way as the trip nears a close, but "Johnson Family Vacation" is still a very funny experience at the movies. Does that make it a good production? Certainly not, but it is still a legitimate rest from reality. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

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8 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
A Family Ride You Won't Want To Take, 1 May 2005

Author: christian123

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.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Not the family vacation gone wrong again!!, 23 February 2007

Author: view_and_review from California

The movie would have been good except: Little Bow Wow, Bow Bow, or Big Bow Wow, whatever you want to call him, was not funny. Nor was the girl who played his sibling, nor was Vannessa Williams, and nor was Steve Harvey. Cedric the Entertainer was the only beacon of light in this failed attempt at a family comedy. The situation just didn't make for a very good comedy, especially when this scenario has already been done so well by Chevy Chase and others. The road trip/family vacation gone wrong is a very played out story. This was not the right platform for an original or successful comedy, and it was not the right platform for Cedric the Entertainer to be as his name indicates: entertaining. It was somewhat humorous and it was bearable, it is more of a "nothing else is on" type movie.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
stalls out, 15 February 2006

Author: Roland E. Zwick (magneteach@aol.com) from United States

In "Johnson Family Vacation," which is little more than an all-black version of the National Lampoon Vacation movies from twenty or so years ago, Nate Johnson loads his wife and three kids into the car and drives from their home in Los Angeles to a family reunion in Missouri. Along the way, of course, the family meets with a series of comic misadventures that threaten to prevent them from reaching their destination.

Despite the derivative storyline, the early scenes in the film exhibit a kind of playful spirit that bodes well for the rest of the movie. This is due in no small measure to Cedric the Entertainer, who, unlike so many of the comics who appear in these types of movies, doesn't feel the need to stand apart from the material in order to draw attention to himself. Indeed, it is the laid-back, unfussy way in which he delivers his lines that makes them so funny. He is also blessed with an attractive supporting cast that includes Vanessa Williams as his long-suffering wife and Bow Wow as his mouthy but generally good-hearted teenage son. The movie even includes some clever little satirical jabs at the accoutrements and symbols of modern-day black culture as Nate, the traditionalist, who listens to '70's soul on his worn-out 8-tracks, goes toe-to-toe with his adolescent gansta' rap adolescents.

But as the Johnsons tootle their way across country in their souped-up SUV, we begin to notice that the film itself has stalled out. About halfway through, it dawns on us that the movie isn't really going anywhere, that it is merely playing out variations on incidents we've seen earlier in the film, and that the set pieces and situations aren't nearly as interesting or outrageous as they should be. This is truly a pity because, given the attractive cast, we really want to like "Johnson Family Vacation" more than we ultimately do.

Still, all things considered, this makes for a reasonable diverting, mindless time at the movies, and Cedric the Entertainer's moniker has rarely seemed so apt.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Totally Funny, 18 April 2004

Author: calis_lil_chica from Raleigh, NC

I went to See the Johnson Family Vacation with my brother and Aunt, and let me tell you, at the begining I wasn't so sure but OMG the movie just got funnier and funnier. The movie was truly a good movie to see with your family. I highly suggest that people go see it. I am telling you that you will enjoy. Steve Harvey and Cedric The Entertainer are absoulutly wonderful and Bow Wow was not bad at all. The whole cast was great. The movie is just mainly about a man (cedric) and his family who are going to attend his family reunion, which he hopes that he wins the trophy for best family. The only problem is his brother wins it every year ( Steve Harvey). So he decieds to go to Missouri and get the award the only problem is the stuff they deal with on the way. The movie is great and very entertaining. Everything about the movie was great. Well if you are looking for a very good comedy that will keep you laughing till the end then you must go see Johnson Family Vacation. You will really enjoy it.

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