| Johnson Family Vacation | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Christopher Erskin |
| Produced by | Andrew Sugerman, Cedric the Entertainer, Earl Richey Jones, Eric Rhone, Paul Hall, Todd R. Jones, Wendy Park |
| Written by | Earl Richey Jones Todd R. Jones |
| Starring | Cedric the Entertainer Shannon Elizabeth Bow Wow Solange Knowles Gabby Soleil Steve Harvey Vanessa Williams |
| Music by | Al Eaton Richard Gibbs |
| Cinematography | Jeff Barnett Shawn Maurer |
| Editing by | John Carter |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 7, 2004 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million[1] |
| Box office | $31,203,964 |
Johnson Family Vacation is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Christopher Erskin. It stars Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, Bow Wow, Gabby Soleil, Shannon Elizabeth, Solange Knowles, and Steve Harvey. The film is director Erskin's first feature film directorial project.
Contents |
Nate Johnson (Cedric the Entertainer) and his family have been invited to their big family reunion in Missouri. He sees it as an opportunity to reconnect with his estranged wife (Williams) and growing children, as well as a chance to show up his wealthier know-it-all brother, Mack (Harvey). Nate takes delivery on an expensive new SUV, persuades his recently separated wife Dorothy to tag along, and packs up his three kids — nubile teenager Nikki (Knowles), under-age wannabe rapper D.J. (Bow Wow), and precocious seven-year-old Destiny (Soleil) — for what he imagines will be a leisurely drive from Los Angeles to Missouri. However, between his wary wife, arguing kids, angry police officers, a bizarre hitchhiker (Shannon Elizabeth), bad diner food, and an unfortunate run-in with a cement mixer, getting from point A to point B proves to be just short of a nightmare.
Johnson Family Vacation received generally negative reviews. It earned a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes,[2] making it one of the site's worst-reviewed movies of 2004. The film has a 29% rating on Metacritic, based on 24 reviews.[3] The critics gave it a C- rating at Yahoo! Movies,[4] however, Yahoo! users gave it a higher B rating. Most critics generally believed the movie was a bland rip-off of the popular Chevy Chase film, National Lampoon's Vacation. One critic in particular went so far as to call the picture the worst film of the year. The film did poorly at the box office, going on to earn US$25 million in its first three weeks of release in the U.S. However the film was a success against its $12 million budget. By its closing date, September 9, 2004, the film had grossed over 31 million dollars, making almost triple its production cost.
2004 BET Comedy Awards
There is currently a proposed sequel for the film which is expected to be released in mid 2012.[5]