Williams' 'R.V.' on a Slow Ride

April 28, 2006 — -- There's a great line in the ads for "R.V.": On a family vacation, no one can hear you scream. Here's a more truthful line: Watching this Robin Williams comedy, no one can hear you laugh … because there aren't any laughs.

Williams plays Bob Munro, a dad who takes his family on a road trip through the Colorado Rockies. He's soon standing on the front bumper, having lost control of his camper barreling down a hill, where it picks up speed and crashes, kind of like this movie, except this movie never picks up speed. It just crashes.

Williams is a comic genius and a talented director, too. I can't imagine anyone wanted to make this totally laughless comedy. Robin, if you make it through this I'm glad to give you another chance. R.V.? P.U.!
Grade: D

If you're looking for something to take the kids to, "Akeelah and the Bee" is the best family film I've seen in a long time.

Keke Palmer -- a wonderful 12-year-old actress -- is an inner-city kid from south Los Angeles who wants to make it to the National Spelling Bee. Laurence Fishburn plays the head of the UCLA English department and he may help her dream come true, but he won't even speak to her if she talks "ghetto."

It's basically a sports movie. Think "Rocky" with vowels. But at 12, Palmer is a better actor than Sly Stallone will ever be. It's an exquisite film, and if I could spell "exquisite" I would.
Grade: B+