The Johnson Family Road Trip

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2004 American moving picture

Johnson Family Vacation
Theatrical release poster
Directed past	Christopher Erskin
Written by	Earl Richey Jones Todd R. Jones
Produced by	Andrew Sugerman Cedric the Entertainer Earl Richey Jones Eric Rhone Paul Hall Todd R. Jones Wendy Park
Starring	Cedric the Entertainer Bow Wow Vanessa Williams Solange Knowles Shannon Elizabeth Steve Harvey
Cinematography	Jeff Barnett Shawn Maurer
Edited by	John Carter
Music by	Richard Gibbs
Distributed by	Trick Searchlight Pictures
Release date	Apr seven, 2004 (2004-04-07)
Running time	97 minutes
Land	U.s.
Linguistic communication	English
Budget	$12 million^[1]
Box office	$31.5 1000000

Johnson Family Vacation is a 2004 American road comedy film directed past Christopher Erskin. It stars Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, Bow Wow, Gabby Soleil, Shannon Elizabeth, Solange Knowles, and Steve Harvey. The story revolves effectually the Johnson family going on a route trip to attend a family unit reunion in Missouri and the numerous hijinks they occur along the way. The flick is manager Erskin'south start and just characteristic film directorial project to date. It also marks the characteristic picture show debut of Jason Momoa. A sequel, titled Johnson Family Celeberation, is in development.

Plot [edit]

Nate Johnson, and his son, DJ, go far at an machine trunk store in Los Angeles to pick upwards his Lincoln Navigator, and much to Nate'south chagrin, there has been a mix up, and his truck has gone from needing a elementary eight-rails to being pimped out with hydraulics and spinning rims. He is told that it will take 3 days to remove all the bells and whistles off of his truck. However, Nate has to have his truck as is because he and his family are due in Missouri for a family reunion.

Once Nate and DJ arrive dwelling, Nate gets a phone phone call from his mother, Glorietta, who disapproves of his marriage to his married woman, Dorothy, and the telephone call is taken over by Nate's older blood brother, Mack, who ever tries to 1 upwardly Nate by appealing to their mother's textile needs. When information technology is fourth dimension for Nate and DJ to get out, it is revealed that Nate is separated from his married woman, Dorothy, and she lives in a dissimilar house downward the street, also as their two daughters, Nikki and Destiny. Nate also has an estranged relationship with their daughter.

While Nate and DJ await for the girls to come out, Nikki is locked in her room chatting on her cellphone, while her little sister, Destiny is trying to go far so she tin can get her stuff for her invisible dog, Sir Barks-a Lot. Nikki and Dorothy disagree most Nikki'south prison cell telephone usage and outfit choices, and Dorothy goes outside to meet Nate and DJ. When Nate sees that Dorothy is bringing her schoolwork on the road trip with her, his disapproval of Dorothy's studying is shown. Destiny's birthday is the day subsequently they leave, and after Nate tells Destiny what he will do for her altogether, a homo named Stan Turner shows up calling for Dorothy. He pulls up in a drop height car playing classical music, and he tells Dorothy that he reserved a table for them and brought her freshly picked flowers. Nate steps in, explains that he is Dorothy'southward married man, and threatens and scares Stan off. The family gets in the machine, and they outset off on their road trip. Nate reaches an Indian casino, where he thought it was an Indian reservation and likewise teach her girl Nikki about the Indians. Nikki flirts with the Indian bout guide, which Nate doesn't like. Nate embarrasses her and she tells him off. Equally a consequence, Nate punishes her and takes away her jail cell phone.

The road trip seems to be going smoothly until they attain a long stretch of highway where a semi truck is trying to run them off the road. The truck slams into the dorsum of the family'south SUV and all of their suitcases tumble out. Nate is able to spin his vehicle out of the truck'south way, and everyone, including Nate, is visibly shaken upwardly. Night time comes, and they finish at a hotel, where Dorothy pretends she is interested in rekindling her and Nate's estranged romance, just really she only wanted to get out of the truck and relax.

One time they leave the hotel and resume their trip, they run into a hitchhiker, Chrishelle, and when Dorothy shakes her caput at Nate, he quotes to her "what would Jesus practise" to justify him stopping for the bonny young adult female. When Chrishelle gets into the truck, she steals cereal from Destiny, and drops a reefer piping in the back seat. The family stops at Bun World for luncheon, and Destiny'due south altogether celebration, and when Nate asks Chrishelle to bless the food, she begins to roll her eyes and hiss foreign phrases, which frightens the family unit. They all reject to sit near her one time they get dorsum in the car. That evening, they all go to a hotel to residuum, and Nate is woken up past a modest alligator in his and Dorothy's bed. As he and DJ fight the alligator, Chrishelle comes in, and information technology is revealed that the alligator, named Twinkie, is hers. They quickly ditch Chrishelle and become dorsum on the route.

While in the auto, all the girls are sleeping, and DJ begs his male parent to pull over because he has to salve himself due to drinking then many sodas. He eventually relieves himself in a to-go soda cup, and when Nate gets thirsty, he goes for the cup, but smells information technology, tosses information technology out of the window, and accidentally hit a cop on a motorcycle. When DJ alerts Nate to what he's done, Nate turns around, not paying attention to the road, and accidentally drives through a construction site, hit a cement truck, causing wet cement to pour all over the grill and hood of his SUV. The cop arrests all of them, due to Nate littering, and because the cop finds i of Chrishelle'south missing reefer pipes in the back seat. While they are locked up, Dorothy assists the officeholder in writing off his taxes, and in exchange for Dorothy's help, the officer lets the family go.

Back on the road, Nate runs out of gas, and he goes to find a phone to call his Uncle Earl. Earl somewhen shows up, and after he flirts with Dorothy, he starts working on the SUV, using hair straighteners and other inappropriate tools to fix the problem, although Dorothy tells him they just need gas. Earl hauls the truck onto the back of his, and he carries the family unit the residuum of the way to the family reunion. Once they show up to the reunion, Nate greets his brother, then his mother, who openly criticizes his and Dorothy'due south marriage, and after reconsidering telling Gloriana the truth about their spousal relationship, Dorothy tells her she and Nate will renew their wedding vows and passionately kisses Nate in front of his mother. Mack and Nate gather with their relatives to pray for the food, but it turns into a contest, and their relatives walk away and begin eating without them. Equally the day goes on, the two families compete for the "Family of the Year" trophy, which Mack has never lost, and the ultimate showdown comes from the families doing carve up musical performances on stage. Nate and his family go around stealing items from relatives for their on-stage outfits, and their performance, which includes peachy trip the light fantastic moves and slick rapping from DJ, wins them the trophy. Mack breaks down, and Nate gives him the trophy, maxim that his family was the only trophy he needed. As the family celebrates, the same semi truck that ran Nate off the highway shows upwardly, barreling through the park, trigger-happy decorations downward and nearly hitting Nate'due south relatives. The driver turns out to exist Stan, yet stewing over the fact that Dorothy isn't as interested in him as he assumed, and he reveals in front of their whole family unit that Nate and Dorothy live in divide houses. Nate confesses that he hasn't been a very supportive husband, and after apologizing to Dorothy, Glorietta tells Nate it's about time Nate realized what a skillful married woman he had. Stan however won't let upwards, and after Nate threatens to fight Stan, Glorietta says no, and then turns around and punches Stan herself. Nate and his family unit leave, with Nate telling anybody that his wife has some studying to practice.

Nate, Dorothy, and the kids show up at Uncle Earl's auto store, and when Uncle Earl reveals their truck, information technology looks as skillful every bit new. Earl isn't a very professional person mechanic, and he says he used fluoride toothpaste and a wire coat hanger to make sure Nate's truck was in good shape for driving. Nate and his family get into their truck, and one time he and Dorothy share a reconciling kiss, they head home with no issues. They get to Dorothy's house, and when Nate hits the lock button on the car remote, the truck completely falls apart in the driveway. This gets Nate upset because Uncle Earl did not gear up it right, simply Dorothy tells him not to worry most it considering they have other things to practice, hinting that they are going to rekindle their romance. Nate smiles and runs into the house after Dorothy.

Bandage [edit]

Cedric the Entertainer as Nathaniel "Nate" Johnson/Uncle Earl Johnson
Bow Wow as Divirnius James "D.J." Johnson
Vanessa Williams as Dorothy Johnson
Christopher B. Duncan as Stanley "Stan" Turner
Solange Knowles every bit Nikki Johnson
Shannon Elizabeth as Chrishelle Rene Boudreau
Gabby Soleil equally Destiny Johnson
Steve Harvey as Mack Johnson
Aloma Wright as Glorietta Johnson
Godfrey equally Motorcycle Cop
Jason Momoa as Navarro
Jennifer Freeman as Jill Johnson
Jeremiah "J.J." Williams Jr. as Cousin Bodie Johnson
Lee Garlington equally Betty Sue
Lorna Scott as Gladys
Philip Daniel Bolden as Mack Johnson Jr.
Rodney Perry as Cousin Lump Johnson
Shari Headley every bit Jacqueline Johnson
DeRay Davis as Jamaican Stoner
Kurupt as Himself
Tanjareen Martin as Tangerine
Lichelli Lazar-Lea as Navi Reckoner (vocalism)

Reception [edit]

Johnson Family Vacation was heavily panned past critics. It received a half-dozen% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on xc reviews, with an average score of 3.iv/10. The critical consensus says: "The poorly crafted Johnson Family unit Holiday squanders its talented cast in a banal family road comedy that draws unfavorable comparisons to Chevy Chase's Vacation movies."^[ii] The movie has a 29 out of 100 rating on Metacritic based on 24 critics, indicating "by and large unfavorable reviews".^[3] The critics gave it a "C−" rating at Yahoo! Movies.^[4]

Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club criticized the motion-picture show for existence "stitched together with regional stereotypes and gags lifted from other movies".^[5] The Austin Chronicle 's Marjorie Baumgarten plant the humor "half-broiled – all setups with few satisfactory payoffs" and the filmmakers' talents lacking in making new and creative one-act set pieces, concluding that "Johnson Family Vacation is as arduous to watch as your neighbor's poorly focused vacation slides."^[vi] Roger Ebert felt that Cedric's talents were watered down by the film's "paint-by-numbers" script and Erskin's direction having "style without zing", calling it "a routine cross-country one-act that feels exactly like a series of adventures recycled out of every other cross-country one-act."^[7] Andy Patrizio of IGN commended Cedric's comedic chemistry alongside Harvey and Williams merely felt he didn't work with Shannon's miscast part and the film overall getting bogged down past "a few cases of bathroom sense of humor," concluding that, "[Due west]hile in the spirit of Holiday, it's not quite on its level. Just that shouldn't end anyone from checking it out on a tiresome night. I wouldn't make it a summit priority rental, simply don't dismiss it, either. "^[8]

Awards & nominations [edit]

2004 BET Comedy Awards
- Outstanding Pb Actor in a Box Part Movie – Cedric the Entertainer (nominated)
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Box Function Movie – Vanessa Williams (nominated)
- Outstanding Writing for a Box Office Movie (nominated)

Sequel [edit]

On Oct 18, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter announced that a sequel entitled Johnson Family Celebration is in production. Cedric the Entertainer will render to star and produce; DeVon Franklin will co-produce while Michael Elliot (Like Mike, Brown Sugar, Just Wright) will write the screenplay.^[9]

References [edit]

^ "Johnson Family Vacation (2004)". Box Role Mojo.
^ "Johnson Family Holiday (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved Feb ix, 2021.
^ "Johnson Family Holiday Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 29, 2020. Retrieved March xiii, 2011.
^ "Johnson Family Holiday (2004) — Picture show Info". Yahoo! Movies . Retrieved September 2, 2008.
^ Phipps, Keith (April vi, 2004). "Johnson Family Vacation". The A.V. Gild. The Onion. Archived from the original on Feb nine, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
^ Baumgarten, Marjorie (Apr 9, 2004). "Johnson Family Vacation - Movie Review". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on Feb 9, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
^ Ebert, Roger (Apr 7, 2004). "Johnson Family Vacation". Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group. Archived from the original on Jan 1, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2020 – via RogerEbert.com.
^ Patrizio, Andy (July 23, 2004). "Johnson Family unit Holiday". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
^ "'Johnson Family Holiday' Sequel in the Works". The Hollywood Reporter. October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2020.