RIFFTRAX LIVE: SUMMER SHORTS BEACH PARTY

Ah, summertime.  The season for beaches, barbecues, swimming, and... terrible short features?  Rifftrax Live: Summer Shorts Beach Party continues the MST3K/Rifftrax tradition of joking during terrible movies -- only this time the subjects/victims are short features.

The Summer Shorts feature is hosted by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy.  This time around, however, they're joined by MST3K alumns Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl, and Bridget Nelson (Mike's wife), along with comedian Paul F. Tompkins.  The guests riff on the shorts with or instead of the three regulars, and everyone joins together to take on the evening's final short feature.

As for the shorts, they prove as terrible -- and therefore ripe for being the subject of jokes -- as the feature films.  There's a safety film involving a magic owl that looks like a furry with a beard.  There's a sexist black and white feature on women in the office.  There's the "exercise" of rhythmic ball movement.  And it all wraps up with two burlap sacks coming to life and being chased by their owner.

It's hard to believe some of these shorts ever got made -- but it's great that the Rifftrax folks got hold of them.  There were a tremendous amount of laughs during all the shorts, and the variety of short features kept the subject matter quite varied.  Even though none of the shorts were beach or summer related, Rifftrax Live: Summer Shorts Beach Party was a very fun way to spend a summer evening.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

Johnson Family Vacation (2004)

Load up the car, and gather the kids, we're going on a road trip! Perhaps the quintissential summer family activity is a driving vacation, but after watching Johnson Family Vacation, it's enough to make us want to stay home. It features Cedric the Entertainer (in no less than two roles), and Vanessa Williams.

Cedric plays Nate Johnson, the middle aged father who is in a falling apart marriage. Of his three kids, at least the youngest adores him, as the two teenagers have no use for him. He decides to take a road trip, in a new tricked out Lincoln Navigator from Los Angeles to Missouri for a family reunion which includes his mother, and an ultracompetitive older brother. Along the way, we have the predictable wrong turns, motel issues, sickening road food, yelling at the GPS, hitchhiker that they should have left at the side of the road, and run in with the police, and some American Indians. You know, just like every other summer vacation/roadtrip movie seems to have these days.

It's not that it's not humorous, but it's that this has all been done plenty of times before. If you've seen RV, Are We There Yet?, or National Lampoon's Vacation than you've pretty much seen most of the Johnson Family Vacation. It's too bad that much of the humor is so formulaic, as there are plenty of new directions that we could of gone in here. Unfortunately for this film, the three films that I mentioned above were all better than it. Still, for a mindless armchair vacation, or a reminder why you're staying home with your next block of time off, Johnson family Vacation does provide some diversion.

Overall Grade: B-

Summer Rental (1985)

It is often interesting to go back and watch an older film. I had never seen Summer Rental before, but when I saw that it featured John Candy, and directed by Carl Reiner, I decided to check it out.

This film features Candy as Jack Chester, an overworked, and burnt out air traffic controller. After he mistakes a fly on his radar console for a lost private jet, he agrees that he is due for a break- big time. He then packs up his family, drives from Atlanta to the Florida Keys, and pulls into his paradise by the sea summer rental. While it is less than relaxing, now the fun seriously starts. From being in the wrong rental, to the restaurant's lobster tank emptying out, to a suntan that could only be described as "well done," this is hardly the R & R he signed up for!

While Summer Rental is not quite timeless, I found the technology more nostalgic then dated. For those of us that grew up with music from Sony Walkmans (yes, there was music before iPods for the youngsters), and when a family car involved a station wagon with an overly generous helping of fake plastic wood, we'll get a kick out of seeing this and more in the film. Then again, I like my GPS unit a little too much to go back to those simpler times.

If you're looking for some light humor, with a peak 80's twist, than Summer Rental is a comedy rental worth seeking out.

Overall Grade: B
--Jonas

RV

Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation has always been the comedic classic of family trip movies. Now RV is the updated version for the new millenium.

Williams has to cancel his Hawaiian vacation when a younger colleague at work threatens his job, big time. He decides to make the best of it by secretly making a family RV trip into a working vacation as they meander from Southern California up to the mountains of Colorado.

Williams comedic genius is well done as he motors across America's West. From running over things, to fighting wild animals, to "trash talkng" kids at the campground, he is truly funny all the way. While there is enough bathroom humor to amuse even a colorectal surgeon, the scene of Williams emptying the toilet of the RV, assisted by fellow campers, is destined to be a classic.

The comedy is strong, but the plot successfully glues the experience together into a meaningful whole. A lot of films promise to make you laugh out loud, but RV truly delivers, which is a rare find. It's destined to be the classic family travel film of this decade. Before you pack your bags and chart your course for the open road, definitely watch RV.

Overall Grade: A

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