College Road Trip
College Road Trip is a 2008 American family comedy film directed by Roger Kumble and starring Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symoné, Brenda Song, Margo Harshman, and Donny Osmond. The film centers on college-bound teen Melanie Porter (Raven-Symoné), who goes on a road trip to different universities with her family, including her overprotective father. The film was released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on March 7, 2008. The film garnered negative reviews from critics.
| College Road Trip | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Roger Kumble |
| Produced by | Andrew Gunn |
| Written by | Emi Mochizuki Carrie Evans Cinco Paul Ken Daurio |
| Starring | Martin Lawrence Raven Symone Donny Osmond |
| Music by | Edward Shearmur |
| Cinematography | Theo van de Sande |
| Edited by | Roger Bondelli |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million[1] |
| Box office | $51.5 million |
Plot
Police chief and hyper-protective father James (Martin Lawrence) drives his teenage daughter, Melanie (Raven-Symoné), from their home in Chicago to a college interview in Washington, D.C. En route, they meet disturbingly cheerful parent Doug (Donny Osmond), their car breaks down and he finds his son and pet pig stowed away in the trunk. What's worse, James gets caught spying on his daughter at a sorority house. Despite the chaos, James begins to realize that his baby girl has grown up .
Cast
- Martin Lawrence as Chief James Porter, an Army veteran and police chief of a small Illinois suburb. He is very overprotective of his family, but finally lets go of Melanie and allows her to live her life.
- Raven Symoné as Melanie Porter, James' daughter and a very bright young girl with aspirations to get into Georgetown.
- Eshaya Draper as Trey Porter, James' son. He is very intellectually gifted beyond his age. He stows away on the trip with the family pig, Albert.
- Donny Osmond as Doug Greenhut, an overly-energetic man who is taking his equally energetic daughter on a road trip. He stops to help James and Melanie when their car breaks down and initially freaks James out. However, in the end it is shown the families are friends as they are celebrating Thanksgiving together.
- Molly Ephraim as Wendy Greenhut, an energetic and chipper young woman who is on a college tour with her father and ends up befriending the Porters. At the end of the film she is engaged to Scooter.
- Kym Whitley as Michelle Porter, James' wife and Melanie's mother
- Brenda Song as Nancy Carter, one of Melanie’s friends
- Margo Harshman as Katie, one of Melanie’s friends
- Arnetia Walker as Grandma Porter, James' mother
- Vincent Pastore as Freddy
- Lucas Grabeel as Scooter, a member of Melanie's graduating class and her intellectual rival. He behaves exactly like Doug and even gets engaged to his daughter in the end.
- Benjamin Patterson as Tracy
- Will Sasso as Deputy O'Mally, one of James' co-workers on the police force
- Geneva Carr as Mrs. O'Mally, Deputy O'Mally's pregnant wife
- Josh Meyers as Deputy Stuart, one of James' co-workers on the police force
- Julia Frisoli as Mrs. Greenhut, Doug's wife and Wendy's mother
- Michael Landes as Donny
- Kristian Kordula as Nick
- Joseph R. Gannascoli as Mr. Arcarra
- Kelly Coffield Park as Sorority House Mother
- Brianna Shea Russo as Ally
Production
Cinco Paul and partner Ken Daurio wrote the most recent draft. The movie was born out of the Disney Writers Program by Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki. The movie was produced by Andrew Gunn/Gunn Films and directed by Roger Kumble.[2]
Promotion
To promote the movie in the United States, Raven-Symoné appeared on WWE WrestleMania XXIV, Chelsea Lately, MTV's TRL, Live with Regis and Kelly, The View, BET's 106 & Park and The Oprah Winfrey Show. The theme song of the movie was "Double Dutch Bus", sung by Raven-Symoné. The music video for the song appeared on Disney Channel and was included in her self-titled album. The music video included scenes from the movie. Disney Channel TV spots were aired promoting the film in the United States.
The first trailer appeared alongside Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Enchanted.
The film did not receive a cinema release in Australia. Although promotions for the film aired on Disney Channel Australia, a confirmed date for the movie to begin screening in theatres was never given. The film was released direct-to-DVD instead.
Release
Critical reception
The review aggregator at Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 12% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 3.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Filled with shrill gags and middling slapstick, College Road Trip is woefully short on comic imagination."[3] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[5]
The New York Times gathered positive reviews toward the leading cast's performance. 411 Mania gave it a final score of 7.5 out of 10 based on several reviews and managed to give it a positive DVD and film review.[6] The film also received positive reviews from Blu-ray.com,[7] Kansas City Star and several other publications[8] including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The film also received negative reviews from USA Today and San Francisco Chronicle.
Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed approximately $13.6 million in 2,706 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office.[9] The movie continued on to gross $31,117,834 to finish off the month and closed with earnings above $45 million in domestic territories.
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 15, 2008. Both the DVD and BD releases contain the following bonus features.
- Deleted scenes including alternate opening and ending
- "Double Dutch Bus" music video
- Audio commentary by director Roger Kumble, writers Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki, and stars
- Raven's Video Diary - Tag along on the set of the hot young stars from sensation Disney shows and movies
- On the Set: "Double Dutch Bus" - A behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the film's signature song
- Bloopers
College Road Trip sold 439,809 copies in the first week of release pulling in $8,030,648 of additional revenue for the franchise. It has sold a total of 1,004,834 copies since its release and made a total of $18,461,049 in DVD sales.
Book
In May 2008, Disney Press released a book based on the movie[14] written by Alice Alfonsi. The novel has the printed original movie poster as the cover.
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Teen Choice Award | "Choice Comedy Movie" | Nominated[15] |
| Golden Icon Awards/28th Golden Icon Awards | "Favourite Teen Movie" | Nominated | |
| Summer Fort Myers Beach Film Festival | "Favourite Summer Teen Flick Comedy" | Won | |
| 2009 | Teen Film/TV Series International Awards | Best Actress: Lead Role on Comedy Film for Raven-Symoné | Won |
| Best Teen Film of the Year | Won | ||
| Best Comedy Film of the Year | Won |
References
- "College Road Trip – PowerGrind". The Wrap. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- "Martin Lawrence Will Take a 'College Road Trip'". Cinematical.com. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
- "College Road Trip (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- "College Road Trip (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- "Find CinemaScore" (Type "College Road Trip" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
- "College Road Trip review". 411mania.com. 2008-07-20. Archived from the original on 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
- "College Road Trip review". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
- Review Archived January 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- "College Road Trip (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
- Top DVD Sales
- Top DVD Sales: 3 weeks
- Top Video Rentals
- Top Video Rentals: 6 weeks
- College Road Trip - Alice (ADP) Alfonsi Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Nominees announced Archived February 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (June 17, 2008) Teen Choice Awards. Accessed 2008-11-11.