Road Trippin': The Making of 'Are We There Yet?'

What kind of locomotives are pulling the freight train?

Could be worse, but still isn't up to much

Nia Long, Ice Cube, Aleisha Allen, and Philip Bolden in Are We Done Yet? (2007)

Cuba Gooding Jr. in Daddy Day Camp (2007)

Vin Diesel, Brittany Snow, Max Thieriot, Morgan York, Kegan Hoover, Logan Hoover, Bo Vink, and Luke Vink in The Pacifier (2005)

Morris Chestnut, Shad Moss, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki in Like Mike (2002)

Dwayne Johnson, Brian White, Jamal Duff, Hayes MacArthur, and Madison Pettis in The Game Plan (2007)

Angie Harmon, Frankie Muniz, and Hilary Duff in Agent Cody Banks (2003)

Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Josh Hutcherson, and JoJo in RV (2006)

Ice Cube, Aleisha Allen, and Philip Bolden in Are We There Yet? (2005)

Do you have any Justin Timberlake or Clay Aiken?

Lord, these kids are ethnically challenged. You know you could get shot by playing those CDs in my old neighborhood.

Ice Cube and Philip Bolden in Are We There Yet? (2005)

Aleisha Allen and Philip Bolden in Are We There Yet? (2005)

Ice Cube and Jay Mohr in Are We There Yet? (2005)

Ice Cube

Nia Long

Aleisha Allen

Steven Gary Banks

Claudia Grazioso

J. David Stem

To impress a foxy divorcee, ladies&apos; man Nick offers to take her kids on an extended road trip, unaware of the torture he&apos;s in for.

Brian Levant

Are We There Yet?

Away from Home Alone

The more I study film ideas, the more I&apos;m amazed at how some ideas continue to live.

Take the notion of humorous cruelty. Were the Stooges the first to build a franchise around this? In modern times, it is the &quot;Home Alone&quot; franchise where we are given an excuse for accepting the cruelties because the hurter is a clever but innocent child and the hurtees are stereotypical bad guys.

Here the idea tries a new incarnation. Lest there be any mistake about the source, the movie actually starts in the &quot;old&quot; Home Alone mode with our (anonymous) victim encountering tripwires that trigger child-made traps of household goods and toys.

Then it shifts into the new mode. In this edition, some of the tricks are intended and some are not. The victim is a new kind of shiftless: a black man actually trying to be &quot;ghetto.&quot; The story is supposed to smoothly morph in a sort of &quot;What About Bob&quot; way from pain to rewarding relationship. The turning point is also stereotypical: the treasured black dad has abandoned his family and the beleaguered suitor is revealed to be someone to whom that also happened.

I think humor about race, especially racial stereotypes, is fair game. How better to puncture racism? But its got to be funny doesn&apos;t it?

This picture turns out to be what it starts to be about: a way of torturing a black dude who manages a slick appearance of the ghetto (we&apos;re talking about the guy who calls himself Ice Cube here, not his character) and tries to put himself where he doesn&apos;t belong. Poignant maybe, but neither funny nor endearing.

Ted&apos;s Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjNmMWQ4YTMtNjQ2Zi00YmRkLWE4MmYtZjlhMzc5MTRkNGRjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzU1NzE3NTg@._V1_.jpg

The more I study film ideas, the more I'm amazed at how some ideas continue to live.

Take the notion of humorous cruelty. Were the Stooges the first to build a franchise around this? In modern times, it is the "Home Alone" franchise where we are given an excuse for accepting the cruelties because the hurter is a clever but innocent child and the hurtees are stereotypical bad guys.

Here the idea tries a new incarnation. Lest there be any mistake about the source, the movie actually starts in the "old" Home Alone mode with our (anonymous) victim encountering tripwires that trigger child-made traps of household goods and toys.

Then it shifts into the new mode. In this edition, some of the tricks are intended and some are not. The victim is a new kind of shiftless: a black man actually trying to be "ghetto." The story is supposed to smoothly morph in a sort of "What About Bob" way from pain to rewarding relationship. The turning point is also stereotypical: the treasured black dad has abandoned his family and the beleaguered suitor is revealed to be someone to whom that also happened.

I think humor about race, especially racial stereotypes, is fair game. How better to puncture racism? But its got to be funny doesn't it?

This picture turns out to be what it starts to be about: a way of torturing a black dude who manages a slick appearance of the ghetto (we're talking about the guy who calls himself Ice Cube here, not his character) and tries to put himself where he doesn't belong. Poignant maybe, but neither funny nor endearing.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

To impress a foxy divorcee, ladies' man Nick offers to take her kids on an extended road trip, unaware of the torture he's in for.

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