R.V...

—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

Spiritual insights by Mike Furches

Oh...the good ole days. The days with dinner at 6 o'clock sharp, where kids' biggest problems consisted of which girl to ask to a dance or how to talk your teacher into no homework for the weekend. The days when moms wore pink dresses, dads played catch with their kids, and gas was like 25 cents a gallon. Compare that with today, and it seems that as cheesy as I think the 50's culture might have been, there is something missing.

Today we have suburbs where you drive everywhere so you don't have to talk to anyone, IPods to listen to while you shop (so you don't have to talk to anyone), and power windows so that they can roll up quickly in case a neighbor is trying to flag you down. Gone are the days when the front porch was where the family spent their evenings, catching up with the neighbors, providing a helping hand or a word of encouragement. Granted, the 50's were hardly perfect, but there is something about our corporate, money-focused, success-driven society that misses the finer things in life; like family, service, and love.

OK, enough of thinking of those good ole days, especially considering the fact that I was born 30 years after they happened away. But after watching the movie RV, it is hard not to think where we have gone wrong, why our families seem so fragmented, the divorce rate so high, and children so ashamed of their parents. R.V. is a social commentary on some of these things, complete with some great laughs (although some laughs missed pretty hard) and a nice ending.

Robin Williams plays Bob, a frustrated father seeking to have one week with his family in Hawaii before his family splits up for the summer. Not surprisingly, this idea quickly falls through, and even though Bob is the one guy in the family really looking for some quality time with the fam, he ultimately cannot even be honest with his family, thus producing an RV trip instead of the promised trip to Hawaii...how disappointing.

What follows is a family searching for love and searching for meaning in a world that seems to lack it. Please don't read into this too far though, its not like RV is going to have anyone finding meaning in life, but it may make you think about your family, how you treat your kids, parents, etc.

Bob's family runs into another family, with Jeff Daniels playing Travis, the Father of this family. Travis runs a homeschooled RV full of a family that seems to have been exported straight out of the 50s. Travis' family is completely unable to understand the struggle of Bob's family, mostly because they have not bought the lie that money, success, and more things bring happiness. There are greater things in life than this, and Travis' family shows it, because their family lives a life basically unconcerned with those things.

Bob's family is, and the rest of the movie is focused in on this struggle between what the world tells you to value and what Bob begins to value. It is obvious that one thing is true here...Bob has come into contact with all the world has offered him...and all he wants is a family that loves him. How refreshing. And, in the end, Bob will back this whole thing up with his actions. But, that is for you to go see. R.V. may not reach into 'classic' status with other road trip family movies, but it will make you laugh, think, and drive home either appreciating the family that loves you, or wanting a family that wil love you...

—1. Overview