MOVIE REVIEW: Is the movie over yet?
Grade: D-
It is probably one of the most common and trite phrases for children to say these days. As a result, “Are We There Yet?” is an equally trite film, combining all of the same elements of comedy and family values that we have already seen in previous films.
Although it debuted at No. 1 last weekend during its national premiere, “Are We There Yet?” will cause many viewers to ask themselves, “Why did we do that?”
Directed by Brian Levant, (who has directed other family films including “Beethoven” and “Jingle All the Way”) this one will undoubtedly be overshadowed by his previous films. And that isn’t saying a lot. Levant’s latest work seemed choppy, plastic and incredibly predictable.
“Are We There Yet?” stars Ice Cube (“Anaconda”) as Nick Persons, a cocky and self-proclaimed ladies-man who runs a sports collectibles store in Portland, Ore. He quickly falls in love when he sees Suzanne, (Nia Long from “Big Momma’s House”), an attractive businesswoman working across the street from him.
Although she is young and beautiful, she also happens to be a single mom. Cube is initially turned off by her two young children but still decides to make an attempt for her heart, or if not that, at least a one night stand.
They both end up quickly developing a friendship, which Long explains can be nothing more. For Cube’s character (which seems to be nothing more than an extension of himself) he sees this friendship as the land of desolation for his proud, single, urban-dwelling lifestyle. So as a final attempt and after complications from a joint-custody situation, Cube agrees to drive Long’s children to Vancouver for her, allowing the family to be together for New Year’s Eve during mommy’s business trip.
By displaying this large act of charity, Cube hopes to prove his love and devotion to Long, despite his inherent hatred of all children.
We are then forced to watch a never-ending road trip with Cube as his patience is constantly tested by the two mischievous children Lindsay and Kevin (played by Aleisha Allen and Philip Daniel Bolden).
The children create a variety of problems for their newfound guardian involving violent truckers and the seemingly tame wildlife. But through it all, Cube eventually bonds with the children as he learns how to deal with their whining, crying, quarreling and microscopic bladders.
Most of the comedy comes from these situations and becomes quite repetitive as we watch each ill-fated event after another. Will Ice Cube get the children to their mother on time?!? The answer to this question arrives long before we reach the conclusion.
Because so much time is devoted to the zany physical comedy of Ice Cube, there is hardly any room for character development. So instead, the characters develop loving emotions for each other within two minutes during the concluding scenes. This does not add to the realism and neither does the acting. Every actor in this movie appeared to be reciting lines they just memorized the day before. The children are somewhat cute but their incessantly sassy attitudes make them seem more irritating than adorable.
“Are We There Yet?” fails to present any originality in a story about family values. The most creative, and mildly entertaining, idea in the film is that we get to see a gangster rap artist portray a suburban father figure. Are we done yet?!
Casey T. Allan is a junior majoring in professional and technical writing and reviews movies for the Statesman. Comments may be sent to caseyal@cc.usu.edu
Staff Writer
A new, simple way to find off-campus housing, buy and sell books and help out students in other ways has been created – a Web page for student’s needs called www.TrueAggie.com.
And, it’s all free.
“We want to get as many students involved as we can,” said Ryan Malnar, co-creator of the site and a senior studying journalism. The more students who visit and use the site, the more productive it will become.
“You can put anything on the site. Sell books, cars, anything,” Malnar said.
Aggie Books will also be listing all of their books in the classified section so people can see what books are available there, he said. “Students can also buy new or used books from Amazon.”
The Web site offers an atmosphere to buy and sell things, as well as to find housing. It also allows users to easily log on to add or delete their own files in the classifieds.
“One thing we didn’t want to do was to charge money to students,” Malnar said.
Services on the Web site are free to anyone and it can be useful to a lot of people in Cache Valley, Malnar said.
“All I’ve gotten is positive feedback. It shows how big of a need there is [for the Web site],” he said. “Their [students] biggest need is seeing the off-campus housing.”
The site’s operators have compiled a free housing guide they hope to post on both ends of the Taggart Student Center.
“We have 40 different apartment complexes advertising on the site,” Malnar said.
They are trying to find a way to post in the TSC every two weeks all of the classifieds on an organized list.
“In the future the site will allow students it become acquainted with one another through career profiles and resumes, so they’ll be able to see opportunities within their majors. On an academic level, it will be a big resource,” Malnar said.
Despite the sites numerous services, it avoids the need to charge those use it.
“The number one reason why students should use the Webpage is because it is free. I know students are worried about that,” Malnar said. “It’s set up for their convenience.”
The site also offers an arcade of games and the high scores of the games are recorded on the web as well.
Eventually he hopes to have the ability to sell Aggie paraphernalia on the site, but all of that development will take time.
Although, he said technology is tricky and always errors in programming, so far the Web site runs pretty smoothly. They’ve never had a crash.
“As far as helping students to be better informed, I believe it’s a great resource,” Malnar said.
One group that could benefit is the local music scene. The site’s creators would like to be able to list those bands and their performances, and would appreciate if the bands would contact them so they can incorporate the information onto the site.
“We need the help of local artists to give us information and help us promote the site, also the clubs on campus in the same way,” Malnar said.
He noticed a lack of a community site dealing specifically with USU. He created the site to fill this void.
“We started it to be a place for students to get information,” Nolan Malnar, brother of Ryan and the site’s other co-creator, also a USU graduate in mechanical engineering, said. “And we’re going to be adding more and more services.”
Trueaggie.com goes beyond just posting what students send them.
“We go to apartments and take pictures of the apartments offered on the site, so students can actually see where they might be living,” said Brady Dunn, a freshman studying journalism and the financial representative for the site.
Ryan said when he first began school at USU, he moved into a place he knew nothing about because the information about off-campus housing wasn’t available on the web. The site addresses that problem.
“Ryan does this because he really cares about people and wants to help them out,” Dunn said.
Though Malnar hasn’t studied web page design, he has had a job programming and developing computers since 2000, and it has made a good hobby for him.
Ryan said they started in 2001 by creating “For Sell By Home Magazine” that ran for about two years.
“The only problem was the happy customers that were able to sell their home were then moved out of the valley,” Ryan said.
The first guide was made in August 2003 but students weren’t using it very often because it only offered one thing to them.
After a busy two weeks of hard work the Web site was launched on March 15, 2004. Last year the site sponsored candidates for the ASUSU elections and plans to do so for the upcoming election this year.
“Anyone can apply for sponsorship. The candidates interested may contact us through the Web site for interviews that may lead to sponsorship,” Ryan said.
He is also interested in branching out to other areas. The site is currently looking for academic writers to write newsworthy articles to be posted on the site.
“I would just like to encourage every body to at least give it a try and check out everything it has to offer,” Dunn said.
caseyal@cc.usu.edu