College Road Trip (2008) - Movie Review

Why I do this to myself I just don't know. Over the weekend, in anticipation of next week's The Dark Knight, I watched a truly horrifying film: College Road Trip. Now, College Road Trip, if you look at the title only, sounds like pretty entertaining fare. It's a great title for an R-rated teen romp full of sex, nudity and crude jokes. In fact, I bet there were a few 13-year old boys who bought tickets for the film, thinking they would get to see boobs. Little did they know, and who would have expected, that the title actually belongs to an inane, G-rated comedy from Walt Disney.

Yes, College Road Trip is a G-rated Martin Lawrence movie that also stars Cosby Show's Raven Symone. Oh, and Donny Osmond. Those of you who read my reviews often should know that I have extreme distaste for Lawrence; he just isn't funny. Team him with a couple of sitcom stars and a Disney Channel-quality screenplay and you have a real mess on your hands.

Obviously, I'm not in the right demographic, but I'm the one who sat through 55% of this movie (I fastforwarded through bits that were just too unbearable). Unless you're someone who still watches the Disney Channel on a regular basis, you will want to avoid this film at all costs. College Road Trip is full of stupid jokes, gags and mishaps that one would expect from a sitcom, not a feature-length movie. It's ultimately pretty harmless, other than all the shrieking Symone and Lawrence commit to screen, and shriek they do. Lawrence is his usual annoying self as he parades from scene to scene acting like a fool and embarrassing himself and his daughter. Symone is even more obnoxious and hardly worthy of a starring role. Osmond is mildly funny as an overly chipper, singing neighbor, but director Roger Kumble and the four writers (yes, it took four writers to make things this idiotic) don't really take advantage of his Flanders-esque character.

College Road Trip has little going for, and I'm amazed it went on to make $45 million in U.S. theaters. This is one that you can easily miss.

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