Cedric the Entertainer can be a breakout comic force if given the least opportunity, but Johnson Family Vacation tames him in a routine cross-country comedy that feels exactly like a series of adventures recycled out of every other cross-country comedy. There s even a semi that tries to run them off the road.
The movie begins in a California suburb, where the Johnson family is on thin ice. Nate (Cedric) lives in the family house with his son DJ (Bow Wow), while his wife, Dorothy (Vanessa L. Williams), teenage daughter Nikki (Solange Knowles) and preschooler Destiny (Gabby Soleil) have moved into a second house nearby. Dorothy agrees to go along on the trip in a last-gasp attempt to save the marriage.