Johnson Family Vacation - what can I say? For starters, there's just about nothing worse than a comedy that isn't funny.

Taking a cue from National Lampoon's Vacation series, this awful, unfunny comedy features the likable Cedric the Entertainer as Nate Johnson, a man who tries to re-connect with his estranged wife Dorothy (Vanessa Williams) during a lengthy road trip to a family reunion. The separated couple have three children who are also along for the crazy ride. The big family reunion is mighty important to Nate, for each year, he and his blowhard brother Mack (played by Steve Harvey) compete for a dumb trophy handed-out after a family talent show.

Johnson Family Vacation has an attractive cast with enormous potential which is the only reason this picture probably won't make the top of my worst-of list at the end of the year.

Cedric can be very funny (see Barbershop) and while he is naturally likable, this horrid film never gives him a chance to shine. The comedic star does everything he can to liven up the proceedings - including playing an extra role in the form of zany Uncle Earl (something that brought to mind Eddie Murphy's multiple roles in Nutty Professor). Vanessa Williams is a beauty to be sure, but here she's more annoying than anything else as busy-body Dorothy. Bow Wow is a fun little bundle of energy as D.J., but he's forced to take part in outlandishly labored bits (such as urinating in a cup because his father won't stop the car to let him go to the bathroom). Solange Knowles (Beyonce's little sister) plays oldest daughter Nikki and while she share's her real life sibling's stunning looks, Johnson Family Vacation offers us no clue as to whether she shares any of the family talent.

This movie is a horrible mess. There is never any sort of re-connection between Nate and Dorothy, nor do we ever see why there was ever a connection in the first place. Virtually nothing interesting happens on this dull, overly-long journey. There's a ridiculous sequence in which the Johnson family is run off the road by a semi, but the movie really becomes stupid when the Johnson's pick up a nutty hitchhiker (played by Shannon Elizabeth). This provides the movie with a reason to unleash some of it's most inane material - including a dreadful physical comedy bit in which the Johnson's are terrorized by Elizabeth's pet alligator while sleeping in a hotel room. Never mind the fact that when they picked her up, the alligator was nowhere to be seen. I could have lived with the lapse in logistics, had this embarrassingly awful alligator attack been remotely funny.

Then we have the big climactic reunion, during which Nate and Mack compete with their respective families, and again the movie fails miserably. This sequence had a lot of potential, but ultimately came down to some remarkably boring musical numbers. In the end, this sequence seems like nothing more than an excuse to allow Bow Wow to rap.

Again, I really like most of the actors here but they are belittled by a completely disposable storyline with zero laughs. There will, no doubt, be one good thing to come out of the inept and unfunny Johnson Family Vacation. Weak box-office should more than guarantee that we'll never have to witness a Johnson Family European or Christmas Vacation. Amen to that!