RV

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs
—5. Posters (Robin Williams)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

Special:
Faith in Hollywood: Up Close with Kristin Chenoweth

FREE DOWN LOAD
The RV Activity Book from the movie RV
Click here (PDF)

What happens when you stick a family of four self-centered people into an RV and send them on a trip through the wilds of America? Well as long as Robin Williams is one of those people then at least some of it’s going to be funny. RV follows the Munros doing exactly that. Bob (Williams) is forced to cancel a family vacation to Hawaii in order to make a presentation for his boss. By way of explanation to his wife he says that he wants to spend some quality time with his children before everyone heads separate ways for the summer. Telling her the truth occurs to him, but he doesn’t want to worry anyone since failure could cost him his job. So he rents the aforementioned recreational vehicle (big, green, and splashed with a garish “RENT ME� sign including a larger than life picture of the owner) and off they go.

Along the way they meet with a variety of problems, most of which stem from the fact that the Munros aren’t very nice, flexible, or endowed with a lick of common sense. When they aren’t being attacked by raccoons, emptying sewage containers, or sniping at each other they are trying to avoid the Gornickes. No, that’s not a sub-species of rabid wombats, they are a family of “professional� RV travelers best described as perky, quirky, and surprisingly functional. Travis (Jeff Daniels) is the father of the brood and Marie Jo (Kristin Chenoweth) is the horn and makeup selling, yodeling mama. She is easily my favorite character in the movie, the RV running a close second. Circumstances keep forcing the two families together leading to hijinks galore. Would that those hijinks were as funny as the moments that Williams has to himself.

There are certainly other, better family vacation movies (say that little one by National Lampoon) and most big moments are inherently predictable given the genre, but I had a good time with this. The Munro children, Cassie and Carl are played well and have enough characterization to be interesting without being distractions. When Robin is given room to be manically physical the comedy works. The Gorenickes have just enough oddness to be funny, but not so much that they aren’t down to earth. More with them would have made this a better movie. Potty humor still makes me laugh and I have a sticky marshmallow center, so the moments that are supposed to make me go “awwww� do. So I think it would be money well spent, though not for younger ones.

There was actually a little depth to this movie too. As a dad with three kids of my own, I can say that I identified pretty strongly with Bob. I’ve done stupid things in the name of keeping my family from worry and I let life get in the way of being a father all too often. I think that we could all learn something from the Gorenickes about not letting soccer games, doctor’s appointments, technology, and jobs interfere and remembering why we’re together. Being a family is hard, messy work, but it’s worth it. And when we do mess up by lying, being selfish, or making any of the seventy times seven mistakes that come with the territory it is our family that we should be able to come back to and receive the grace of forgiveness.

— Overview