Two of the four "Kings of Comedy," Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey, star in this film about a family road trip to the annual reunion. For two comedians as talented as Cedric and Steve are, they were about as bland and tasteless as British cuisine. Never did I think that these two, whom I enjoy so much, could be responsible for such un-funny swill.
Cedric plays Nate Johnson, a family man that is currently going through some problems with his recently separated wife, played by Vanessa Williams. Their three kids are Nikki, the hussy teenage daughter (played painfully by Solange Knowles), aspiring young rapper, DJ (Bow Wow has dropped the Lil'- he needs to drop his acting career), and little Destiny (played by Gabby Soliel from TV's 'The Hughley's') who imaginary dog always seems to be getting lost. Steve Harvey plays Cedric's rival sibling, Max.
Despite all the family problems, Nate is determined to get his crew from California to Missouri for their family reunion, and more importantly to beat his brother Max in the annual Family of the Year Contest.
The rest of the trip is a mess of pointless scenes and unneeded characters. Shannon Elizabeth plays a hitchhiker who the Johnson's pick up, only to find out she's a little on the spooky side. At another point an 18-wheeler forces them off the road. They stop at a casino where Nate is sure he remembers a 'real' Indian village from when he was younger. Nikki meets and flirts with a loincloth wearing, tourist pleaser, male Indian.
By this time, you are begging for the trip to end and to get to the reunion already. Only once we are there do we realize, we were better off before. The family begins various contests to determine who the Family of the Year is, which culminates with a sing/dance off.
The movie was just flat out not funny. We sat there in stupefied silence as we watched the antics flail about miserably on screen. Bow Wow was exceedingly bad as every line was wrenched out of him and coupled with flailing arms and squeaky voice. The only part where he seemed relaxed was a brief, 15-second rap sequence at the end of the movie. Equally flat was Vanessa Williams, who after this movie, should follow her husband's (Los Angeles Lakers, forward Rick Fox) example and contemplate retirement at the end of the season.
As a fan of Cedric and Steve Harvey I was actually hoping some really funny sequences out of this.
Unfortunately our Kings of Comedy have been demoted to court jesters and sent into exile. One can only hope they will recover and remember what comedy is; because this was just bad. 2/10
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