Look out for more coverage of
College Road Trip in our magazines

THE MOVIE: College Road Trip

THE STARS:
Martin Lawrence • Raven-Symone • Donny Osmond • Molly Ephraim
DIRECTOR: Roger Kumble

THE CONCEPT:
When the 17-year-old daughter Melanie (Raven-Symone) of imposing police-chief and over-protective father James (Lawrence) tells him she plans a ‘girls only’ road trip to check out prospective colleges, he insists on escorting her instead.
Her dream trip soon turns into a nightmare adventure full of turmoil, including meeting a maniacally happy father/daughter team, Doug (Osmond) and Wendy (Ephraim), also searching for the perfect college, who burst into song whenever the opportunity arises.

U.S. RELEASE: March 7 2008, Nationwide • Rated: G

THE COMMENTS:

ROGER KUMBLE on having Raven-Symone as his executive producer:
“Raven has been in the business longer than I have, so Raven’s a pro. We all made the movie together. If there was a teenager question, I’d refer to Raven. And it was important that I made a color-blind movie, but I didn’t want to negate the fact that this was a black family, so I’d rely on Martin and Raven and what they thought. She didn’t fire me, so it was good.”

RAVEN-SYMONE:
“I enjoyed being a producer. I have to say I kind of took a step back because this was my first executive producer title on a big screen movie. I didn’t want to walk into it acting like I knew what I was doing.”

MARTIN LAWRENCE:
“My daughters keep our TV on the Disney channel and I’ve seen all the reruns of That’s So Raven, and I enjoy them a lot, so it gave me cool points at home when I told them I might possibly be working with Raven. The respect between us was there from the beginning, I was a fan of hers and she seemed to be a fan of mine. The way we come off on film is how we genuinely started feeling about each other off-camera.”

RAVEN-SYMONE:
"I liked that Melanie’s a really smart character and that she has this free spirit she can turn on when her friends are around, but she also knows when it turn it off. It’s a lot of fun to watch her trying to step outside of her dad’s boundaries while still respecting who he is.”

KUMBLE:
“I will take full credit for casting Donny Osmond. We had created the role of Doug Greenhut in the development, and then we were like, ‘Who’s going to play this role?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, someone like Donny Osmond.’ It was literally a light bulb moment. And I thought, this is either the worst idea or the best idea, because he hadn’t made a movie in 30 years. I thought he was going to be good, but I didn’t think he was going to be that good. We didn’t rehearse in the movie, and his first scene he’s hugging Martin goodbye, and then he kisses him, and we thought it was hilarious, I didn’t know how Martin would react.”

DONNY OSMOND:
“That was the first scene that we did, and I hadn’t worked with Martin before, I didn’t know how he’d react, but I had to break some ice, how do we start this movie off on the wrong foot? So Roger and I talked about it, and I said, ‘I want to do this,’ and he said, ‘Go for it.’ So I hugged Martin, and I hugged him again and gave him the kiss on the cheek, and the look that he gave the camera was real. Then he started laughing and he said, ‘Oh, this is going to work, this is going to be fun.’”

LAWRENCE:
“The kiss was nice, all his fans probably are jealous. It took me by surprise, but it was fun, it was a good vibe and a good spirit around the set, and it was enjoyable. I love people to make me laugh and crack up when I’m trying to hold a face in the scene. I love it.”

RAVEN-SYMONE:
“I love this father/daughter story. I love that it’s especially touching on a subject that’s important to talk about in today’s day and age. The father/daughter relationship is very strained right now. And I think it’s very important to show that it’s possible to have a healthy relationship with your daughter, you just have to work at it.”

LAWRENCE:
“One of the funniest scenes in the movie is probably the skydiving scene, just because it was physical. Raven and I had to act like we were falling, because I didn’t really jump out of the plane, and I was not jumping out of a plane, they didn’t even give me the option to jump out of a plane. I think they knew not to make that an option with me, because I probably wouldn’t have been in the movie.”

OSMOND:
“What’s so cool about this movie is there are so many relatable things to so many different ages, whether you’re a parent realizing you got to let go, whether you’re a college student thinking, ‘I wish they’d let go,’ or a little kid, they love the pig in the movie. So there’s something in there for everyone.

Written by Judy Sloane. Back to top

Visit the official College Road Trip site
Images above © Walt Disney Pictures
Feature © 2008 Visual Imagination Limited.
Not for reproduction.

Keep up with the latest movie news, reviews and features with every issue of Film Review and the Film Review Ultimate Special

VI DIRECT
Stores Info

You can order any of our magazines via this
secure service.

To SUBSCRIBE to
FILM REVIEW, use these
links to our stores: