'Are We Done Yet?'
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"Are We Done Yet?" manages to take two trends -- sequels and remakes -- and bundle them into one family comedy.
Columbia Pictures, Revolution StudiosIce Cube, left, and Philip Daniel Bolden in "Are We Done Yet?"
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'Are We Done Yet?'
Starring: Ice Cube, Nia Long, John C. McGinley.Director: Steve Carr.Rating: PG for some innuendos, brief language.Web site: sonypictures.com/movies/arewedoneyet/
Don't assume that's a good thing, although it is rated PG, as was "Are We There Yet?," introducing Ice Cube as Nick Persons and Nia Long as Suzanne, a divorced mother of two. As we learn in the sequel's opening scenes, Nick and Suzanne have gotten married, and she has moved into his rented condo along with her 13-year-old daughter, Lindsey (Aleisha Allen), and 8-year-old son, Kevin (Philip Daniel Bolden).
Nick sold his sports collectibles shop in Portland, Ore., so he could start a sports magazine. But if his condo seemed cramped with four people and a dog, it's about to feel downright tiny now that Suzanne has announced she's pregnant. With twins.
Enter the remake of "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse," as the couple buy a five-bedroom bucolic charmer built in 1889. Without so much as a home inspection, they purchase the place, and Nick develops buyer's remorse as one problem after another crops up, putting him at the mercy of a kooky contractor named Chuck (John C. McGinley), who wears many hats, literally and figuratively.
"Mr. Blandings," released in 1948, starred Cary Grant as an ad exec tired of sharing his cramped Manhattan apartment with his wife, two daughters and their maid. He falls for a Connecticut farmhouse that he and his wife end up tearing down so they can start over. In 1986, "The Money Pit" tried unsuccessfully to duplicate its formula with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.
The focus in "Are We Done" is on the sorts of problems that adults might identify with -- faulty wiring, dry rot, pesky raccoons -- but not children. Ice Cube can only fall through a roof so many times in an effort to tease laughs from the audience.
He doesn't have the light comedic touch of Grant or Hanks (nor does he pretend to), but McGinley does, and he saves the movie from collapsing like so much shoddy scaffolding. His jack-of-all-trades reminds Nick about the value of a home, not just a house, and a family.
Still, the movie just isn't very funny. It reduces Nia Long to some sort of throwback as pregnant homemaker, with no mention of her previous job as a party planner, let alone her ex-husband or even her thoughts when one of the children sneaks out to a party.
The 2005 road trip comedy, which improbably turned Ice Cube into a family film star, opened at No. 1 in a slow January. This time, families have many more options, making this movie seem like a fixer-upper with a potential honey of a house and a comic blueprint that's seen better days.
First Published April 4, 2007 12:00 am
