- College Road Trip
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College Road Trip 
Theatrical release posterDirected by Roger Kumble Produced by Andrew Gunn
Ann Marie Sanderlin
Raven-Symoné (executive)Written by Carrie Evans
Emi Mochizuki
Cinco Paul
Ken DaurioStarring Raven-Symoné
Martin Lawrence
Brenda Song
Kym Whitley
Margo Harshman
and Donny OsmondMusic by Edward Shearmur Cinematography Theo Van De Sande Editing by Roger Bondelli Studio Gunn Films Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures Release date(s) March 7, 2008 Running time 83 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $87 million Box office $99,181,637 College Road Trip is a 2008 American family/comedy directed by Roger Kumble and starring Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symoné, Brenda Song, Margo Harshman, and Donny Osmond. The film centers on college-bound teen Melanie Porter (Raven-Symoné), who goes on a road trip to different colleges with her father. The film was released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on March 7, 2008.
Contents
Plot
The film is about Melanie Porter (Raven-Symoné), a 17-year-old college-bound girl who is getting ready to graduate from high school and really wants to go to Georgetown University. However, her father James Porter (Martin Lawrence), the chief of police in the quiet Chicago suburb where they live, is overprotective of Melanie, and isn't ready for her to leave and study so far away from home. Chief Porter has other plans for Melanie; he wants her to go to Northwestern University which is only 28 minutes away from home. Porter also receives problems from disagreements with his real estate agent wife, Michelle (Kym E. Whitley), the family pig Albert, who continuously annoys him, and his youngest son Trey, who spends much time with the pig. Melanie gets invited to an interview at Georgetown after a college recruiter saw her performance at a mock trial. Her two best friends, Nancy (Brenda Song) and Katie (Margo Harshman), offer to take her on their college road trip to Pittsburgh. Melanie is all set to go with her friends until her father surprises her with his own college road trip to Washington, D.C..
On their way, Melanie reluctantly visits Northwestern to take a tour. They meet an almost-too-happy father and daughter duo, Doug (Donny Osmond) and Wendy (Molly Ephraim), who are on their own college road trip. Porter has planted actors at Northwestern, one screaming at Melanie they lost an eye at Georgetown. Melanie almost falls for it until one of the actors says to her "Yeah, the chief's a pretty smart guy", since he never met Porter.
Their car soon breaks down and they find Trey in the trunk with Albert and a supply of oxygen. They stop at a hotel (thanks to Albert's navigating) but end up causing trouble when Albert eats coffee beans and becomes hyperactive. They run into Doug and Wendy again, who offer Melanie and Porter a ride since Porter's car broke down. Later, Melanie and her father ride on a tour bus where they try to work out their differences. At one destination, Nancy and Katie show up and take Melanie to a sorority house. Porter, due to a misunderstanding, and the owner not letting him in to check on her, sneaks into the house. After hearing that his daughter has faith in him, he decides to leave the next morning. Unfortunately, after Melanie leaves, he gets caught by the owner and brutally tased. Porter's mother comes to bail him out, and opens up about her own past fears when her son went to the Army, but still believed in her son to go his own path.
Porter and Melanie end up forgiving each other at the airport. After dropping off Trey, they skydive to make the interview at Georgetown. Melanie is nervous, but Porter tells her she can do it and that they didn't come all this way for nothing. She then is accepted into Georgetown, which Wendy is accepted into too.
In the end, James copes with letting go and the final scene shows the family at Thanksgiving dinner. Melanie introduces her friend Tracy (who is a guy). James learns to cope with this, and Doug's daughter announces her engagement to Scooter (Lucas Grabeel) which causes an enraged Doug to finally freak out and attack him.
Deleted scenes include an alternate opening where James foils a bank robbery and a phone conversation where Michelle Porter, a real estate agent, is listening to Melanie's and James's complaints while Michelle is in the middle of showing a house to a couple. The couple think Michelle is talking to another buyer and decide to buy the house themselves.
Cast
- Martin Lawrence as Chief James Porter
- Raven-Symone as Melanie 'Mel' Porter
- Donny Osmond as Doug Greenhut
- Kym Whitley as Michelle Porter
- Brenda Song as Nancy Carter
- Eshaya Draper as Trey Porter
- Molly Ephraim as Wendy Greenhut
- Margo Harshman as Katie
- Vincent Pastore as Freddy
- Lucas Grabeel as Scooter, geeky boy.
- Will Sasso as Deputy O'Mally
- Josh Meyers as Deputy Stuart
- Kelly Coffield Park as Sorority House Mother
- Joseph R. Gannascoli as Mr. Arcarra
- Michael Landes as Donny
- Adam LeFevre as Judge
- Eugene Jones as Hunter
- Lonny Ross as Student Guide
- Na'Kia Bell Smith as 6-Year-Old Melanie
Production
Scene for College Road Trip being filmed in Stamford, Connecticut
Cinco Paul and partner Ken Daurio wrote the most recent draft. The movie was born out of the Disney Writers Program by Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki. The movie was produced by Andrew Gunn/Gunn Films and directed by Roger Kumble.[1]
Filming began July 8, 2007. Symone's character original first name was Rachael.
Promotion
To promote the movie in the United States, Raven-Symoné appeared on WWE WrestleMania XXIV, Chelsea Lately, MTV's TRL, Live with Regis and Kelly, The View, BET's 106 & Park,The Cheetah girls and The Oprah Winfrey Show. The theme song of the movie was "Double Dutch Bus", sung by Raven-Symoné. The music video for the song appeared on Disney Channel and was included in her self-titled album. The music video included scenes from the movie. Disney Channel TV spots were aired promoting the film in the United States.
The first trailer appeared alongside Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Enchanted.
Advertising for the film used the tagline "They just can't get there fast enough."
The film did not receive a cinema release in Australia. Although promotions for the film aired on Disney Channel Australia, a confirmed date for the movie to begin screening in theatres was never given. The film was released direct-to-DVD instead.
Release
Critical reception
The film received mainly negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator at Rotten Tomatoes reported that 13% of critics gave the film positive reviews.[2] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 34 out of 100, based on 46 reviews.[3] The New York Times gathered positive reviews toward the leading cast's performance. Martin Lawrence received positive reviews from several magazines, Rotten Tomatoes criticized his appearance yet again. 411 Mania gave it a final score of 7.5 out of 10 based on several reviews and managed to give it a positive DVD and film review.[4] The film also received positive reviews from Blu-ray.com,[5] Kansas City Star and several other publications[6] including the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. The film also received negative reviews from USA Today and San Francisco Chronicle.
Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed approximately $14 million in 2,706 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office.[7] The movie continued on to gross $31,117,834 to finish off the month, making it the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film to be released under 2000 screens.[citation needed]
The following Monday, it pulled in $2,253,215. Among films that had fewer than 1,000 screens on opening day, the film ranked second.[8] College Road Trip opened with $8.6 million on 683 screens and Borat opened (in 2006) with $9.2 million on 837 screens. It averaged $45,560 per screen in its opening weekend, giving it the highest average per theater of all time for a limited release film. Because of the strong demand, Disney extended the film's run indefinitely.[9]
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 15, 2008. Both the DVD and BD releases contain the following bonus features.
- Deleted scenes including alternate opening and ending
- "Double Dutch Bus" music video
- Audio commentary by director Roger Kumble, writers Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki, and stars
- Raven's Video Diary - Tag along on the set of the hot young stars from sensation Disney shows and movies
- On the Set: "Double Dutch Bus" - A behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the film's signature song
- Bloopers
College Road Trip sold 439,809 copies in the first week of release pulling in $8,030,648 of additional revenue for the franchise. It has sold a total of 1,004,834 copies since its release and made a total of $18,461,049 in DVD sales.
Book
In May 2008, Disney Press released a book based on the movie[14] written by Alice Alfonsi. The novel has the printed original movie poster as the cover.
Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Result 2008 Teen Choice Award "Choice Comedy Movie" Nominated[15] Golden Icon Awards/28th Golden Icon Awards "Favourite Teen Movie" Nominated Summer Fort Myers Beach Film Festival "Fav Summer Teen Flick Comedy" Won 2009 Teen Film/TV Series International Awards Best Actress: Lead Role on Comedy Film for Raven-Symoné Won Best Teen Film of the Year Won Best Comedy Film of the Year Won References
- ^ Martin Lawrence Will Take a 'College Road Trip'
- ^ "College Road Trip - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/college_road_trip/. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- ^ "College Road Trip (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/collegeroadtrip. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- ^ College Road Trip review
- ^ College Road Trip review
- ^ Review
- ^ "College Road Trip (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=collegeroadtrip.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
- ^ '10,000 B.C.' leads box-office hunt with $35.7 million debut
- ^ Disney Planning 'College Road Trip' for Blu-ray and XD
- ^ Top DVD Sales
- ^ Top DVD Sales: 3 weeks
- ^ Top Video Rentals
- ^ Top Video Rentals: 6 weeks
- ^ College Road Trip - Alice (ADP) Alfonsi
- ^ Nominees announced (June 17, 2008) Teen Choice Awards. Accessed 2008-11-11.
External links
- Official website
- College Road Trip at the Internet Movie Database
- College Road Trip at AllRovi
- College Road Trip at Box Office Mojo
- College Road Trip at Rotten Tomatoes
- College Road Trip at Metacritic
Films directed by Roger Kumble 1990s Cruel Intentions (1999)2000s Cruel Intentions 2 (2000) · The Sweetest Thing (2002) · Just Friends (2005) · College Road Trip (2008)2010s Furry Vengeance (2010)Raven-Symoné Discography · Awards and nominations · SongsStudio albums Soundtrack albums Related articles Categories:- English-language films
- 2008 films
- 2000s comedy films
- American children's films
- American comedy films
- American teen comedy films
- Disney films
- Films directed by Roger Kumble
- Films shot in Connecticut
- Road movies
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