College Road Trip is part hideous and part...you know...not-really-all-that-bad. A Martin Lawrence Disney comedy would not seem a brilliant idea--much like a Martin Lawrence film at any studio would not seem a brilliant idea--but the truth is, the format fits Lawrence pretty well, considering the broad-beyond-broad nature of the material. Talk about damning with faint praise...
Lawrence and renowned Disney Channel superstar Raven Symone headline the film, playing a father and daughter whose primary genetic connection is their tendency to mug for the camera. Lawrence plays an uptight, overprotective father to Symone's college-bound daughter. He wants her stay close to home; she wants to ship out to Georgetown. Together they embark on a--you guessed it--college road trip. Hijinks, obviously, ensue...about 34.6% of which are mildly amusing. The rest are pretty deadly, especially any scene featuring the extremely intelligent pet pig whom Lawrence believes to be a stalker. (!) (?)
Roger Kumble directed College Road Trip. Kumble is formerly the director of films like Cruel Intentions and The Sweetest Thing, so directing a G-rated Disney film was obviously the next logical step. Credit should, however, go to Kumble for restraining Lawrence and Symone when it counts, and making the film slightly more effective than it really deserves.
Of course, any film that casts Donny Osmond as an over-the-top doppelganger of his real-life persona can't be all that bad...
...except for those damn pig jokes...
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