If you had told a post-”You So Crazy” Martin Lawrence back in 1994 that he’d one day be starring in a G-rated Disney comedy opposite the little girl from The Cosby Show and Donny Osmond, he probably would have laughed in your damn fool face. But here we are 14 years later and Lawrence is headlining College Road Trip, which casts the formerly foul-mouthed comedian as upstanding family man, James Porter, whose daughter Melanie (Raven-Symone) is getting ready to head off to college. While her overprotective dad has been encouraging to attend Northwestern–conveniently located just a half-hour away from home–she dreams of studying pre-law at Georgetown, 700 miles away in Washington DC. When the Georgetown admissions office requests her presence for an interview, James organizes an ill-fated road trip that hits more than a few speed bumps along the way. Pitched at the same family audience that turned out in droves for the Cheaper by the Dozen films and Robin Williams’ own road movie, RV, College Road Trip is packed with lots of slapstick comedy (numerous scenes involve Lawrence chasing after his young son’s pet pig), tween-friendly pop music (including one number by Raven-Symone that’s probably already airing as a music video on the Disney Channel) and overly sentimental father/daughter bonding. In other words, if you don’t have kids, there’s no earthly reason why you’d want to spend $12 to see it, even if you’re the world’s biggest Martin Lawrence fan. The actor seems more than happy to sit back and let his on-screen daughter steal all the attention. A teenage mogul whose bank account rivals Miley Cyrus and the Olsen Twins, Raven-Symone doesn’t just act and sing in College Road Trip, she’s also one of the film’s executive producers. And if the movie does as well at the box office as it’s expected to, one can only assume she’ll be back on the big screen next year in College Road Trip 2: Spring Break. Of course, if that’s the premise of the sequel, Disney might have a harder time keeping it at a G-rating…
Also In Theaters:
The Bank Job
Based on a real-life robbery that scandalized England in the ’70s, The Bank Job follows a crew of blokes (led by rugged action hero Jason Statham) who are recruited to break into a highly secure bank vault and lift items out of specific safety-deposit boxes. But once the job is done, the lads realize their own government may have set them up. Director Roger Donaldson also helmed the superior thrillers No Way Out and Thirteen Days so expect a wild, tense ride.
10,000 B.C.
After destroying the world in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, disaster filmmaker Roland Emmerich travels back to dawn of time to follow the adventures of a mammoth hunter who crosses continents in pursuit of his kidnapped love. Along the way he encounters all kinds of creatures and cultures, most of whom he has to hurt or kill. Even back then, it seems like mankind just couldn’t learn how to get along.
