Are We There Yet? (2005)

To impress a foxy divorcee, ladies' man Nick offers to take her kids on an extended road trip, unaware of the torture he's in for.

Director:

Brian Levant

Writers:

Steven Gary Banks (story), Claudia Grazioso (story)

Stars:

Ice Cube, Nia Long, Aleisha Allen

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ice Cube	...	Nick Persons
Nia Long	...	Suzanne Kingston
Aleisha Allen	...	Lindsey Kingston
Philip Bolden	...	Kevin Kingston (as Philip Daniel Bolden)
Jay Mohr	...	Marty
M.C. Gainey	...	Al
Tracy Morgan	...	Satchel Paige (voice)
Henry Simmons	...	Carl
Ray Galletti	...	Car Dealer
Viv Leacock	...	Nick's Pal on the Street
Casey Dubois	...	Shoplifter
J.B. McEown	...	Shoplifter (as JB McEown)
Kenyan Lewis	...	Basketball Player
Daniel Cudmore	...	Basketball Player
Tim Perez	...	Basketball Player (as Timothy Paul Perez)

Storyline

Nick Persons is a selfish player who owns a collectables sports shop in Portland, Oregon. Everything in his life is perfect until he meets Suzanne Kingston, a business woman who has something Nick hates - children: Lindsey and Kevin. Nick and Suzanne become friends and share good moments with each other. But Nick's peaceful life gets altered when Suzanne asks him to drive her kids to Vancouver. After the 3 miss a plane and then, train, they drive. Unfortunately, Kevin and Lindsey hate Nick, and he has to try to make it to Vancouver, unaware of the terror and torture he is in for.

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Plot Keywords:

braces | new year | children | highway travel | road movie | 

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Taglines:

To win over their mother, he's driving them across country. What could possibly go wrong?

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for language and rude humor

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the movie's commentary, Aleisha Allen's (Lindsey) favorite scene was the birthday party scene where her character got up on the stage and sang "R.E.S.P.E.C.T."

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Goofs

During the scene in Nick's shop involving the two shoplifting kids, Nick goes out and sprays window cleaner on his door to clean off the kids' spit. Nick turns around and never cleans off the door, but when he turns to come back in his shop, the door is completely clean and dry.

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Quotes

[Nick's car is burning up]
Nick Persons: Oh man! I never even got to read the manual!

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Connections

Referenced in Astronomy Club: Ice Cube Day (2019)

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Soundtracks

Here It Comes
Written by Ali Dee (as Ali Dee Theodore) and Vincent Alfieri
Performed by Ali Dee (as AD)
Courtesy of Dee Town Entertainment Inc.

User Reviews

Kids will love it. Adults will suffer....greatly!

Yes, I hated this movie. But what can I say in my defense? It's a family film! Its core audience is the 5- 12 crowd, and let's face facts: kids will laugh at anything! That's exactly why I've never been a big fan of family films. I'm always bound to experience the predictable quotient of gags that involve vomit, farts and kicks in the groin - all of which are in this movie. Helen Keller can see the punchlines coming a mile away. Ice Cube seems thoroughly embarrassed to be a part of this movie. I'm sure he took on the project to hopefully broaden his demographic (never having done a PG film before). The kids, like most actors their age, constantly overact. Their nonstop bickering makes you feel Ice Cube's pain of having to escort them. Cube ends up getting into every implausible disaster you can possibly imagine. It would help if the gags had even a shred of credibility. Not to mention, every time something embarrassing and disastrous happens to Cube's character, the kids laugh like hyenas, making the gags mean-spirited as well as unfunny. The only moment I remember laughing is when the kids try to drive off in Cube's minivan. He chases after them and tries to climb inside through the sunroof. The kids crash into a giant statue of a lumberjack, holding an axe. The axe then falls down and nails Cube right in his groin. Another predictable gag, but after long periods of not laughing, I had to relieve myself in some fashion. And like in all these movies, there's a schmaltzy conclusion that's supposed to deliver a "message." When I left the theater, I saw this one mother who was so fed up with her bratty son that she picked him up and spanked him, yelling out obscenities. Obviously, this message of accepting kids for who they are, no matter how bratty they get, didn't sink through her head. So why do these films even bother? When you have a movie as detached from reality as "Are We There Yet?" it's hard to deliver a message to its audience that will linger with them.

Details

Official Sites:

Columbia Tristar [France] Sony Pictures

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Are We There Yet?

Filming Locations:

Pacific Central Station - 1150 Station Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,575,214, 23 January 2005

Gross USA:

$82,674,398

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$97,918,663

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Studios, Cube Vision

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1