COLLEGE ROAD TRIP Directed by Roger Kumble. 83 min. Rating: N
COLLEGE ROAD TRIP (Roger Kumble) is a joyless family comedy that contains no more imagination than its dry title suggests. The suddenly ubiquitous Martin Lawrence plays stock character James Porter, an overprotective father who wants his daughter Melanie (Raven-Symoné) to study at Northwestern, close to the family’s suburban Chicago home. But Melanie wants to go to Georgetown, so James hauls her on a 700-mile trip to DC, hoping he can dissuade her along the way. Lawrence and Symoné engage in a spastic mugging competition while covering comic terrain rendered barren from overuse, including taser mishaps and riffs on Donny Osmond’s squareness.
There’s also a pig, who gives the film’s best performance and perhaps should have been left in charge of the script.
