RV

  • Review Date: August 14, 2006
  • PG
  • Genre: Comedy
  • 2006
 Review

Common Sense Media says

Feeble retread of comic family vacation plot.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

Find out more

Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

Find out more

Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this film is premised on a tedious sitcommish conceit: A father lies to his family about the reason for their vacation. The predictable road trip hijinks include problems with the RV's septic system (sewage exploding all over Robin Williams), sulky children, RV crashes and bad roads, mud and rain, wild raccoons, hip-hop bullies, and fellow travelers ridiculed for seeming "hick." These travelers include a mother who shows lots of skin and frequent cleavage. Children behave badly toward adults, adults behave badly toward children. Language includes sexual references; violence is comprised mainly of comic antics and pratfalls.

  • Dad lies to his family regarding his work during the vacation; kids talk back to dad; tedious fart and poop jokes (especially concerning the RV's sewage).
  • Comic hijinks include the RV crashing, skidding, and banging into trees, stop signs, and mailboxes; Dad loses control of RV and lands on the windshield, whereupon he's slammed to the ground when it stops suddenly; girl throws a soda in a man's face.
  • Marie Jo wears tight outfits and shows much cleavage; frequent verbal allusions to sex (for example, "might have a shot tonight"); reference to "testicle" as a breakfast food.
  • Immature language and gesture: daughter gives her father the finger behind his back; repeated references to the RV as a "turd," as well as "bitch," and a reference to "Jewish people" in Hawaii.
  • Visible or referenced products include Vaio laptop; Blackberry; iPods; son eats junk food frequently, including Lays chips and Ruffles.
  • Parents drink martinis; reference to a bong; the mom shows son she can tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue, by way of demonstrating that if he studies hard, he can go " a good party school."

What's the story?

Though Bob (Robin Williams) means well, he's so caught up in efforts to "provide" for wife Jamie (Cheryl Hines) and two kids, Cassie (Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque) and Carl (Josh Hutcherson), that he's lost track of their evolving lives and interests. Hoping to bring everyone together for a trip to Hawaii, Bob is stymied by his arrogant young boss Todd (Will Arnett), and decides to drive to Colorado in an RV instead, pretending it's another sort of vacation, though really it's a way for Bob to get to a business meeting and make a crucial presentation. No surprise, "roughing it" on the road involves a series of raucous physical gags: the septic tank explosion, the angry raccoons, the downpour, the RV's gradual demolition.


Is it any good?

 

Unoriginal and unfunny, Barry Sonnenfeld's RV puts yet another dysfunctional family though the paces of yet another summer vacation. Not only does the movie abuse its characters, it condescends to its viewers, presuming a lowest-denominator sense of humor. Sonnenfeld made Men In Black and Get Shorty: You know he can do better.

Bob and his family have numerous lessons to learn, including charity, responsibility, and honesty. They misjudge and deride a yahoo-seeming family, stereotypes that only amplify Bob's self-centeredness, which really doesn't need amplifying. We get it. He'll learn to be a better dad if only he can hit rock bottom. In this case, that involves being dragged and thrown by the runaway RV, chasing the RV into a lake, and riding his specially designed bike over mountain trails to the presentation, so he arrives muddied and ragged.


Sign Up Message
Sign up for our weekly newsletter
Each week we send a customized newsletter to our parent and teen subscribers. Parents can customize their settings to receive recommendations and parent tips based on their kids’ ages. Teens receive a version just for them with the latest reviews and top picks for movies, video games, apps, music, books, and more.
Please enter an email address.
Please check your email address for possible typos.
Sorry, you must be 13 or older to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Sign me up!

What families can talk about

Families can talk about the importance of families spending time together. How does Bob forget the need for this intimacy in his desire to provide for his family financially? How do the kids learn to "appreciate" their father when he admits his mistakes? Is all the gross-out humor necessary to make the movie entertaining?


This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
Teen, 16 years old
August 10, 2009
 
LOVE IT!
i Like this movie pretty funny haha lmao it was very simple but intresting at the same time

Flag as inappropriate 
Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Boring and Stupid
I was disappointed in this movie. It was basically pointless, and full of stupid and not funny jokes, and many are crud. Approprite for most audiences, but not a very good family comedy.

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 13 years old
December 12, 2010
 
LOve it perfect for teens

Flag as inappropriate 
Parent of 6, 9, 12, and 14 year old
November 4, 2009
 
nice movie for kids; again not my favorite
kids love it wasn't my favorite... not inappropriate many funny jokes... good for movie nights!

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 11 years old
June 19, 2011
 
RV
This is a really good movie but it`s inappropiate beacuse the people in the movie use bad language. PG- For some peril and language.

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 12 years old
July 19, 2010
 
really????????1 star and give it iffy for 11-13???????????really???????
well, i gave it iffy for 6 and under and on for 6 and over to see it. 5 needs parental guidance but 6 fine. well, if you really really really really put it 1 star and give it iffy for between the age 11 and 13 on PG(and not PG-13), they will use one "f--k" and some "s--t". And I like this movie. when you rate it "NO KIDS","off for 18 and under","off for 17 and under","off for 16 and under","off for 15 and under","off for 14 and under" and sometimes off for "13" and under and get it 0-5 stars on PG, they can use a lot of "f--k". There is Marie Jo wears tight outfits and shows much cleavage (WARNING: do not type this in kids sites, except CSM - it includes almost all websites and they can ban you for it.), Some Violence, one use of "f--k", some "Jacka--" and "s--t", two uses of "suck", but most profanity is used, especially "turd" and "b--tch" and zero use(s) of "d--k" some "hick" replaces to d--k, and b*tt. no consumerism that much, some dr*g abuse, (a)lot of negative messages/role models. I think this scene is questionable. Here, two uses of highlights and one uses of the educational, "the school". I think this scene is ON.

Flag as inappropriate 
Parent
May 18, 2010
 
why will PG/TV-PG stuff say "b*tch"
That word is only for rated PG-13/TV-14 stuff.

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 14 years old
October 16, 2009
 
NOT GOOD
not a good movie at all!!!!

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 16 years old
August 23, 2009
 
A hilarious, yet sweet movie
Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Joanna Levesque, and Josh Hutcherson make a great cast when it comes to RV, a comedy that will make everyone laugh.

Flag as inappropriate 
Adult
June 14, 2011
 
funny, crude
entertaining movie but it is crude

Flag as inappropriate 

This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
Topics:adventures
Studio:Columbia Tristar
Director:Barry Sonnenfeld
Cast:Cheryl Hines, JoJo Levesque, Robin Williams
Genre:Comedy
Run time:98 minutes
Theatrical release date:April 28, 2006
DVD release date:August 15, 2006
MPAA rating:PG
MPAA explanation:crude humor, innuendo and language.

This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
 

Review It

Share your review with others

Hang on! You need to be a member to post your review.
A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines.
About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

 

vote now

Will you see RV?


Already seen it? What do you think?

 

Been There? Tell us about it