COLLEGE ROAD TRIP
Starring Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symone. Written by Emi Mochizuki,
Carrie Evans, Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio. Directed by Roger Kumble. (G) 85
min.
As if the premise of College Road Trip wasn’t already reminiscent of the first-season Sopranos episode “College” — the one where Tony takes Meadow to scope out campuses in New England and ends up garrotting a former associate — the cameos by Vincent “Big Pussy” Pastore and Joe “Big Gay Vito” Gannascoli suggest that somebody in Disney’s live-action department loves them some HBO.
Such distracting thoughts are a byproduct of watching a movie utterly bereft of invention or surprise — College Road Trip was made on autopilot, so why should I give it my full attention. To be fair, its treacly tale of an overprotective father (Martin Lawrence, 15 per cent less manic than usual) chaperoning his teenage daughter (Raven-Symone) to a meeting at Georgetown University — all the while trying to convince her to go to school somewhere closer to home — isn’t actively bad. It’s an 85-minute sitcom constructed out of telegraphed plot points, reaction-shot jokes and an obligatory musical showcase for former Cheetah Girl Symone, buttressed by a perfectly acceptable accept-your-empty-nest message. And it’s really, really boring, except for a few pop-up appearances by Donny Osmond, who skews his live-action Ned Flanders persona with gusto.