College Road Trip: Wrong turns, right path!

(Stills) Comedy is definitely not enjoying the greatest heights today. And even if we do have splashes of comedy, they are primarily built on situational or contextual podiums that do not feature a perfect comedy of errors or comedy of manners. Judging a movie in a comedy scale makes one get anxious. Fine, no apprehensions, the audience does laugh, but that is definitely not an answer to the all-pervasive question, was it comic enough? This is when you rate a movie average, answerable for the fact that you are in a superb fix. So, when Walt Disney decided to take a break from its trademark fairytales and go for a pure comedy, it turned out to be a farce, a mere slapstick opera. Created for a teen audience, College Road Trip can not be tagged as a masterpiece, though it does take you for a light hearted family trip with the drizzle of laughter that occasionally takes the shape of a tropical thunder storm. Director Roger Kumble has given us a G-rated movie that deals with or rather showcases the good-natured clash between an over-protective father and freedom-loving daughter. Keeping this storyline everything goes for a pure surprise-free comedy. We expect a complete menace and we do get one by and by.

Rating: 2.5/5

Roger Kumble is a typical product of the Hollywood, born and brought up precisely at the very sets where dreams are born and bred. So, I really don’t blame him for a movie that aspired to be commonly uncommon. He belongs to that class of people to whom another flop would not really matter more than a wink. The other factor which has everything to do with the movie’s present fascia is the fact that this movie is the embodiment of a higher aspiration to jump to the bigger screen for Raven-Symoné (of That’s So Raven fame!). After making a whole generation of teenagers raving about her, obviously, as she is eyeing at a wider and more intelligent audience while trying to be honorable to those who made her a star. She seems more mature and sure of herself for a teenager and when you get to serve as an executive producer for the movie, then why not?

Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symoné in College Road Trip

College Road Trip revolves around a hilarious father and daughter duo, quite expectedly belonging to the precocious suburban upper middle-class on the look out for the best college for the latter to take up for further education. Martin Lawrence plays the control-freak police chief father James Porter who wants to protect his daughter Melanie from every possible invasion, be it boys or a decision to go for a college in Georgetown. He is hell bent on making her choose the Northwestern University, while Melanie is an ambitious, self-assured and confident girl who wishes to become an attorney. Melanie wishes to accompany her best pals Katie (Margo Harshman) and Nancy (played by Brenda Song, if you are a regular Disney watcher then there needs no explanation of her being there in the film!) for the imminent interview that is crucial for her selection in Georgetown University. When the threesome hope for a three times more fun, the dear dad puts his nose through by completely dismissing the idea and offering to drive Melanie here himself. The mom played by Kym E. Whitley proves a mere onlooker while the dad is trying to try out his radical control terms at the household. That too in a police van, which cries danger, danger and gives a ‘don’t mess with my daughter’ look! In this mayhem that occurs after this, includes a most precocious younger brother Trey (Eshaya Draper) trying very hard not to miss the fun by hiding in the car along with his cute Piggy pet. There is no need to explain what comes tumbling after as the whole scene is set for an anticipated roller coater ride. While caught between their dreams and not disrespecting each other’s wishes, the duo create a completely outrageous parody. College Road Trip can be a saga for a journey of a self-realization taking place in the father that his daughter is a little person in herself and is ready to stride along the big bad world at her own pace to live her dreams and the daughter proving her strengths and growing up from the little girl age.

Martin Lawrence, Kym Whitley in College Road Trip

Martin Lawrence quits his robust and loud kind of humor to fit in a g-rated movie. Though he doesn’t actually need to do more than acting as a tyrannical over-protective father and befool himself that usually requires a distinctive whimsical touch. The movie also casts Donny Osmond as a bright member of the overprotective father club. Donny Osmond has returned to the big screen after quite a while to relive his white man persona that befits him. With everything ready and in for a blast, all Roger Kumble needed to do was to let the actors take their own whims rather than keeping the reins in his hand. There is absolutely no strength in the screenplay or cinematography.

Margo Harshman, Raven-Symoné, Brenda Song in College Road Trip

May be Roger Kumble was in a fix of what he wanted to make, a pure comedy or a family drama. The movie gives you some punches though in terms of sentimental scenes between the father daughter pair, trying to rationalize each other’s characters. But did we really need rationalizing when we are looking for a comedy, some thing for you to chew along with pop corn while watching College Road Trip.

Rating: 2.5/5

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 30th, 2008 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Reviews, 2008 Releases, Family, Comedy . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.