MArooned Movie Review: "RV"

Friday night I reluctantly watched "RV" starring Robin Williams. From the ads, it appeared to be little more than a rote "fish out of water" movie.

I have to admit, I was wrong.

It was a lot more than just a rote "fish out of water" movie. It was a huge heapin' pile 'o' stereotypes, dimensionless characters, and scenes whose only purpose for existing seemed to be to make 5 year old boys laugh (my son loved it, so it wasn't a complete waste).

I want those 99 minutes of my life back, with interest. Sony Pictures owes me. Big time.

To recap:

Robin Williams proves that, yes, one can completely and utterly sell out one's artistic creativity for a dumptruck full of money. There was NONE of his signature improv freshness in this movie. None. The irreverent "Mork from Ork" has been officially neutered, apparently deciding that life after drugs is all about making money.

Jeff Daniels shows us that there is plenty of down to go after "Dumb and Dumber".

So what didn't I like about this movie? Well, let's see... For starters, if you know anything at all about recreational vehicles it's a vicious assault on the RV lifestyle, painting those who chose to go RVing as mouthbreathing rednecks with room temperature IQs (IOW, standard Hollywood fare). Then again, if you know anything about anything, most of this movie is an exercise in "Spot the Cliché". We have, painted out for us in bright dayglo colors, the following stock characters:

1. Overbearing, loud, obnoxious boss.
2. Two completely dysfunctional teenaged kids.
3. Small, independent company complete with stereotypical hippie owners being sought for acquisition by SuperMegaMart Brand.
4. Campground idiots.
5. Even the obligatory hitchhiker bad guy.

The characters are so flat as to be one dimensional. They insist on beating you about the head and shoulders with the jokes, weak though they may be. It's very similar to SNL, where a marginal joke is stretched well beyond its breaking point, hashed and re-hashed and re-re-hashed until you just want it to die a quick and painful death...

Don't rent this movie. If it comes on TV, turn it off. If you own the DVD, use it for a skeet. Run, don't walk, from "RV". Your intelligence will thank you for it...