Are We Done Yet?: Critic Reviews

Atrocious.

The rapper Ice Cube returns to the multiplex with Are We Done Yet? a feeble fable of better parenting through home improvement.

As unfortunate titles for cynically commercial sequels go, this one's a doozy

If only someone had thought to fix the script.

Following up on his execrable 2005 semi-hit Are We There Yet?, Ice Cube once again turns the world off with a scowl in Are We Done Yet?

The problem with the new film is that Ice Cube is too cool for the plot's nonsense. The faulty house and McGinley's behavior never inspire him to blow his top.

Carr tries to put one over on us by tacking on a sentimental ending. But as any homeowner could have told him, you can't disguise a weak foundation with a cheap finish.

Are We Done Yet? isn't much more than a middling middle-class fantasy, but it has a few sweet admonitions nestled amid the tomfoolery.

An acknowledged remake of the old Cary Grant movie Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. As far as I could tell, that's because everyone involved was inspired by the syllable "Bland" in the title.

'I can fix that,' Nick says each time a new problem arises in the house. How are we supposed to believe that when the filmmakers couldn't fix this poorly constructed sequel from its prefab origins?

Calling a sequel Are We Done Yet? is like calling it Enough Already.

Director Steve Carr continues his streak of numbingly mediocre family comedies.

Mediocre from foundation to roof, this sequel to 2005's tepid road trip farce Are We There Yet? is the movie equivalent of a tear-down.

This is the kind of movie that gives family films a bad name.

The kids come off like little spokesmodels, or aliens, and if not for Long's implausibly patient but good-natured Suzanne, there wouldn't be a recognizably human character in the film.

If you've seen the brilliantly edited trailer, you've seen just about every single laugh in the movie.

Are We Done Yet? isn't funny or original enough to recommend. But it's amusing to watch Ice play straight-man to McGinley's perky, needy, too-helpful Chuck.

Are We Done Yet? may be remarkable only for the fact that its star was ever once actually considered a threat to civic stability. If movies came any safer than this, they'd be given honourary police citations for keeping the peace.

Careers are funny, unpredictable things, and Ice Cube wouldn't be the first charismatic, threatening entertainer to don a chastity belt for a safe ride in Hollywood. Think Elvis Presley or Eddie Murphy.

This fixer-upper family comedy is still a notable improvement over the previous Ice Cube outing.

Although Ice Cube is still happy to haul out his old snarl when it serves his purposes, he's clearly trying to reinvent himself as a family entertainer. But the milder he gets, the less confident he seems. What's a reformed gangsta rapper to do?

Ice Cube's do-it-yourself sequel is too formulaic.

We're finished.

passable but far from inspired