'RV' gets laughs despite a few bumps in the road

In the '80s, while Chevy Chase kept busy (and got richer) as Clark Griswold, the hapless dad in "National Lampoon's Vacation" and its sequels, Steve Martin and Robin Williams had better things and better films to do.

But it's the new millennium, and neither one has had a prestige moneymaker this century. So it's time to go dumb. Hence Martin and his successful "Cheaper by the Dozen" duds, which at least keep him in the public eye and help pay for his smaller, more interesting pictures.

Sony Pictures 'RV' C The verdict: A few bumps in the road, but overall it's an acceptable Big Dumb Summer Movie. Director: Barry Sonnenfeld Starring: Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque, Josh Hutcherson, Jeff Daniels Run time: 98 minutes Release date: April 28, 2006 Rating: PG for crude humor, innuendo and language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'RV'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Now Williams takes his turn with "RV," about a dysfunctional family forced to live in tight quarters when Bob Munro (Williams) rents a creaky RV and heads for a family vacation in Colorado.

No one's very happy about it. Not wife Jamie ("Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Cheryl Hines), who's definitely not the RV type. Not teenage daughter Cassie (singer Joanna "JoJo" Levesque), who can barely stand to be in the same house with her dad, let alone a cramped mobile home. Not kid brother Carl (Josh Hutcherson), who would much rather be surfing in Hawaii.

Which is where they were supposed to go until Bob's boss ("Arrested Development's" Will Arnett, nailing a certain kind of exec) insisted Bob join him at a business meeting in — you guessed it — Colorado.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld lets a lot of the physical gags go on too long: the RV teetering on a mountain road, the run-into-everything bit as Bob tries to back the RV out of the driveway, and, of course, the inevitable poop sequence when Williams attempts to empty the vehicle's toilet. But there's some funny stuff, too — like some "homeboys" from Scottsdale, Ariz., whom the Munros encounter at a campground — and the actors are reasonably appealing, as opposed to out-and-out offensive, as is so often the case with this kind of lowest-common-denominator comedy.

Even better are Jeff Daniels (in the Randy Quaid clueless role) and Broadway baby Kristin Chenoweth ("Wicked") as a friendly, salt-of-the-earth couple who enjoy family sing-alongs and the whole RV culture. Naturally, Williams and his clan are disdainful of them, which is too bad because the time they spend avoiding them means less screen time with Daniels and Chenoweth. Having not done many films, Chenoweth is a welcome surprise; she's a little like a miniature Pamela Anderson, only with brains and talent.

"Y'all wanna hear about the time Jesus saved us from a tornado?" she perkily asks.

The Munros don't, but you may. Depends on how much big-dumb-summer-movie fun you're in the mood for.