| RV | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Produced by | Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher |
| Written by | Geoff Rodkey |
| Starring | Robin Williams Jeff Daniels Cheryl Hines Kristin Chenoweth Joanna "JoJo" Levesque Josh Hutcherson |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Fred Murphy |
| Editing by | Kevin Tent |
| Studio | Red Wagon Productions Intermedia |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 28, 2006 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $65 million |
| Box office | $87,528,173 (worldwide) |
RV (released as Runaway Vacation in some territories) is a 2006 comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, written by Geoff Rodkey, and starring Robin Williams, Joanna "JoJo" Levesque, Cheryl Hines, Josh Hutcherson, Jeff Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth and Will Arnett. It was released on April 28, 2006 in North America. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on August 15, 2006.
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Bob Munro (Robin Williams), a successful California beverage company executive, is struggling with a dysfunctional family, with his materialistic wife Jamie (Cheryl Hines), his spoiled, surly teenage daughter Cassie (JoJo), and young son Carl (Josh Hutcherson) an adolescent weightlifter who likes Hip hop. At a company picnic, Bob is embarrassed in front of his self-absorbed boss Todd (Will Arnett) by his Cassie's militant friend Gretchen, who hurls a tub of disgusting slime over Todd. Looking forward to a big family vacation in Hawaii, Bob is punished by Todd by having to present a merger proposal to the grassroots Alpine Soda company in Boulder, Colorado instead. Concealing the real reason for going to Boulder, Bob rents an RV from the dodgy dealer Irv (Barry Sonnenfeld) and tells his family they are traveling to the Rockies.
On their trip, Bob and his family encounter many mishaps. These include Bob damaging the parking brake, crashing into and running over objects such as shopping carts, flushing out a trio of raccoons with a stink bomb, and fixing a clogged sewage system. Along the way, the Munros meet another traveling family, the Gornickes, consisting of Travis (Jeff Daniels), Mary Jo (Kristin Chenoweth), and their sons and daughter, Earl (Hunter Parrish), Billy "Not Earl" (Alex Ferris), and Moon (Chloe Sonnenfeld). Earl develops a romantic interest in Cassie and Carl starts to like Moon, but thinking that the Gornickes are too strange for them, the adult Munros decide to ditch them; when the Gornickes reappear at another stop, the Munros believe they are stalking them.
Meanwhile, to disguise his business trip, Bob tries to e-mail a proposal outline from his laptop, working in restrooms; eventually, a hitchhiker steals Bob's laptop, leaving him with only a BlackBerry PDA, which he does manage to use to compose and wirelessly send his proposal to his company. The Gornickes then recover the stolen laptop after picking up the same hitchhiker, and pursue the Munros to return it.
Eventually the entire family begins to enjoy their vacation. In order to attend the merger meeting, though, Bob distracts his family by feigning illness and sends them on a hike. The meeting with Alpine Soda is a success, but Bob is invited to talk to the whole company again the next day. Rushing back to his family, Bob takes a treacherous 4 wheel drive trail; Bob manages to dislodge the RV from the boulder by "rocking" (forcefully throwing himself forward and backwards in the driver's seat) until the vehicle eventually wobbles and tips forward enough to slide down from atop the stone, succeeding in fooling them, but while he is attempting a similar ruse the next day, the RV brakes fail again and it rolls into a lake. Bob lets it slip about the real intentions of the Colorado vacation, and his family is upset that he would use them like that. Still needing to get to the meeting, a desperate Bob retrieves one of his family's bicycles from the lake and pedals off. Jamie, Carl, and Cassie are then picked up by the Gornickes, and soon realize how well they get along, when Bob appears again, climbing atop the moving bus. After apologizing to his family, Bob is just about to blow off the meeting when it turns out he's right outside the headquarters.
At the second meeting, Bob starts his speech and it goes well, but then -- Bob has an epiphany, and so he recommends against the merger, realizing that Todd's selfishness would destroy a great independent company. Carl gets angry at Todd and flips him over his shoulder, onto the ground. Moon exclaims "My Hero!" Bob is then fired but he quits anyway, and soon retrieves the sodden-but-still-operable RV from the lake. At the end, Bob is offered a job by the owners of Alpine Soda, who want to go national independently. As the credits roll, the two families are shown dancing and singing the song, "Route 66" (RV Style).
The film began principal photography in the Vancouver area and southern Alberta on May 25, 2005 and finished filming in December 2005.
The score was written by James Newton Howard and featured several members of the Lyle Lovett Band: Matt Rollings (keyboards), Russ Kunkel (drums), Ray Herndon (guitar), Viktor Krauss (bass), and Buck Reed (pedal steel). Alvin Chea, vocalist from Take 6, provided solo vocals. Additional music was provided by Stuart Michael Thomas and Blake Neely.
Several songs were featured prominently in the film including: "GTO", "Route 66", "Cherry Bomb", and "Stand By Your Man".
RV grossed $87,528,173 worldwide.[1]
The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. Based on 204 reviews from critics collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 24% gave RV a positive review.[2] Justin Chang of Variety said "RV works up an ingratiating sweetness that partially compensates for its blunt predictability and meager laughs."[3] Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, said "There is nothing I much disliked but little to really recommend."[4]
RV won a Golden Raspberry Award for a special category called "Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment", while Kristin Chenoweth was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress.[5]
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