Are We There Yet?

An appealing presence in the right kind of films, Ice Cube is all at sea in this lame reworking of Planes, Trains and Automobiles... but with kids. The Cube plays Nick Persons, a laid back bachelor who has an eye for the ladies but isn't exactly on speaking terms with responsibility. This all changes when attractive divorced single mom Suzanne (Nia Long) wanders into his life. Despite the presence of her two rather selfish prepubescent children 11-year-old Lindsey and 8-year-old Kevin (Aleisha Allen, Philip Daniel Bolden), Nick is desperate to hook up with Suzanne on a more permanent basis, so he's prepared to prove to her that he's a responsible adult. All's cruising along nicely until Suzanne asks Nick to bring her kids up to Vancouver to see her for the weekend. After all, as the tagline runs, what could possibly go wrong?

Indeed, if you're in any doubt as to what could possibly go askew then you've obviously never seen Planes, Trains and Automobiles, for Are We There Yet is little more than a cross generational riff on that John Hughes movie. While logic is an early but not unexpected casualty, it's the snarling, nasty attitude of the little tykes that really undermines Are We There Yet? Neither lovable nor particularly funny, their overwrought presence means that the film has no hook. Or point.