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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

College Road Trip
Walt Disney Pictures


7.7

based on 20 reviews
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based on 15 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symone, Donny Osmond, Will Sasso, and Arnetia Walker

Choosing which college to attend can be the most exciting and thrilling time of a young woman's life... unless your overprotective father isn't quite ready to let you go. In the Disney family comedy College Road Trip, Melanie is eagerly looking forward to her first big step toward independence when she plans a "girls only" road trip to check out prospective universities. But when her overbearing police-chief father insists on escorting her instead, she soon finds her dream trip has turned into a hilarious nightmare adventure full of comical misfortune and turmoil. (Walt Disney Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Emi Mochizuki Carrie Evans Cinco Paul Ken Daurio
DIRECTED BY:	Roger Kumble
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 15, 2008 Theatrical: March 7, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	83 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

Undeniably fun for the kids, though it requires a camp sensibility in its adult audience. But in doing so, it is a warm return to the live-action Disney movies of yesteryear.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason Anderson

You know a movie has taken a very strange turn when you find yourself eagerly awaiting the next appearance by Donny Osmond.

Entertainment Weekly Adam Markovitz

At its best when it drops any pretense of plot for sheer goof (as when a Japanese sightseer belts ''Sister Christian'' on a karaoke tour bus), and at its worst when Lawrence manages to out-ham even his porky four-legged costar.

Variety Justin Chang

This overplayed, underachieving laffer feels thoroughly manufactured to Disney specifications.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

If, on the other hand, your driver's license is still a distant dream, consider this a path to pure hilarity.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

Relies on slapstick scenes that are neither essential nor especially clever.

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Eyes popping and mouths agape, Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symoné mug their way through College Road Trip as if it were a silent movie -- which, come to think of it, would have been a lot less irritating.

Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour

As over-the-top as Raven-Symoné and Lawrence are, the most live-action cartoon characters in College Road Trip are the father-daughter tandem of Doug (Donny Osmond) and Wendy (Molly Ephraim), whose nitro-powered perkiness pass the point of grating and move into a perversely antic state of grace.

Washington Post John Anderson

Perhaps there will be people who do laugh at Lawrence and Raven-Symon screaming in tandem, or mugging their way along every tortured mile of their road trip, or unwittingly joining a sky-diving club and having to parachute into Washington so Melanie can make her interview. Heck, it was all really funny when they did it on "I Love Lucy."

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

What is puzzling is the incompatibility of the two leads with their roles. Raven is supposed to be a high school senior on a road trip to check out prospective universities. But she acts like a adolescent on a sugar high during a weekend sleepover.

LA Weekly Tim Grierson

Lawrence's descent from hyperactive foulmouth to G-rated father figure has been in evidence for years now, but watching director Roger Kumble move from flawed but juicy projects like "Cruel Intentions" to pap like this is a depressing career development.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

As generic as its title, College Road Trip feels like a first draft, the one the studio brings to the rewrite team that, in this case, never got hired.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Better than most Martin Lawrence movies - much as strep throat is better than malaria.

Boston Globe Ethan Gilsdorf

Highly formulaic, make-'em-laugh-then-make-'em-cry comedy.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Absolutely nothing funny happens during their drive to Georgetown for an interview, even with Donny Osmond along for the ride.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

Osmond is all teeth and no talent. You’d think that his presence here might provide an opportunity for some tongue-in-cheek humor at his expense, but Osmond plays the comedy so darn straight that it’s painful to watch.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The almost perversely colorblind College Road Trip represents a strange milestone in black film.

Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand

The whole project is a cloying, artificial mess. The slapstick comedy doesn't bite, and the formulaic sentimentality doesn't grip.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The tagline for College Road Trip is "You Can't Get There Fast Enough." But for those who sit through this humorless and massively predictable movie, a more apt phrase would be: "You Can't Get Out of There Fast Enough."

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Lawrence runs through his usual repertory of mugging, seething and generally acting like a fool, only to be regularly upstaged by Arnold, Trey's pet piglet.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a5:
"The Cosby Show" was something new before "Something New" was something new. Every Thursday night, America tuned in to a sitcom about affluent black people. Raven Symone was on that show. She was Olivia. "College Road Trip", in its own quiet way, pays homage to the Huxtables, since Melanie(Symone) wants to study law(Clair Huxtable(Phylicia Rashad) was an attorney). Melanie chooses between Northwestern and Georgetown. Most, if not all, movies about young black people with a dream, dream about being a basketball star, a singer, or a step-dancer. Black people go to college. But not in the movies. That's why Melanie's choice of lofty schools may take you aback. This is virgin territory. And how does "College Road Trip" handle its story about a matriculating black teen? Not very well. One word. Pig. They needed the pig because the filmmaker realized that dad's obsession with his daughter was starting to get creepy(e.g. Tony Danza in "She's Out of Control"). The pig doesn't save "College Road Trip". But Donny Osmond does. He's Neil Patrick Harris in "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"-funny. For most of its running time, "College Road Trip" is either innocuous or schmaltzy. When Osmond and Molly Ephraim grace the screen, they hijack the film, as a tight-knit father and daughter unit from hell. By no stretch of the imagination is this witless road film any good. But you shouldn't dismiss "College Road Trip" so easily. When Chief James Porter(Martin Lawrence) and his wife give a couple, a white couple, advice about raising a child. That's something new. The film is colorblind. But we're not. If you watch a lot of movies, you'll understand that this role-reversal is quietly revelatory.

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College Road Trip Walt Disney Pictures

College Road Trip
Walt Disney Pictures