College Road Trip
Encyclopedia
College Road Trip is a 2008 American family
Family film
A family film is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families.In December 2005, Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial came first in a poll of the 100 Greatest Family Films. The genre today generates billions of dollars per annum.Family...

/comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by Roger Kumble
Roger Kumble
Roger Kumble is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright.-Life and career:Kumble was raised in Harrison, New York and graduated from Harrison High School. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988, where he wrote for the "Waa Mu" show...

 and starring Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stand up comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably the films Bad Boys, Blue Streak, and Big Momma's House...

, Raven-Symoné
Raven-Symoné
Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman , known professionally as Raven-Symoné , or simply Raven, is an American actress, singer, songwriter, comedian, dancer, television producer and model. Symoné launched her successful career in 1989 after appearing in The Cosby Show as Olivia...

, Brenda Song
Brenda Song
Brenda Song is an American actress, film producer, and model. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd...

, Margo Harshman
Margo Harshman
Margo Cathleen Harshman is an American actress who played Tawny Dean on the Disney Channel series Even Stevens.- Personal life :...

, and Donny Osmond
Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...

. The film centers on college-bound teen Melanie Porter (Raven-Symoné), who goes on a road trip to different colleges with her father. The film was released by Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on March 7, 2008.

Plot

The film is about Melanie Porter (Raven-Symoné
Raven-Symoné
Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman , known professionally as Raven-Symoné , or simply Raven, is an American actress, singer, songwriter, comedian, dancer, television producer and model. Symoné launched her successful career in 1989 after appearing in The Cosby Show as Olivia...

), a 17-year-old college-bound girl who is getting ready to graduate from high school and really wants to go to Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

. However, her father James Porter (Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stand up comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably the films Bad Boys, Blue Streak, and Big Momma's House...

), the chief of police in the quiet Chicago suburb where they live, is overprotective of Melanie, and isn't ready for her to leave and study so far away from home. Chief Porter has other plans for Melanie; he wants her to go to Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 which is only 28 minutes away from home. Porter also receives problems from disagreements with his real estate agent wife, Michelle (Kym E. Whitley
Kym Whitley
Kym Elizabeth Whitley is an American actress and comedienne.-Early life:Whitley was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.-Career:...

), the family pig Albert, who continuously annoys him, and his youngest son Trey, who spends much time with the pig. Melanie gets invited to an interview at Georgetown after a college recruiter saw her performance at a mock trial. Her two best friends, Nancy (Brenda Song
Brenda Song
Brenda Song is an American actress, film producer, and model. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd...

) and Katie (Margo Harshman
Margo Harshman
Margo Cathleen Harshman is an American actress who played Tawny Dean on the Disney Channel series Even Stevens.- Personal life :...

), offer to take her on their college road trip to Pittsburgh. Melanie is all set to go with her friends until her father surprises her with his own college road trip to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

.

On their way, Melanie reluctantly visits Northwestern to take a tour. They meet an almost-too-happy father and daughter duo, Doug (Donny Osmond
Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...

) and Wendy (Molly Ephraim
Molly Ephraim
Molly Ephraim is an American actress who has appeared in films, on television and in Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatre productions. She is best known for playing the role of Wendy Greenhut in the 2008 film College Road Trip, and the daughter, Ali, in Paranormal Activity 2...

), who are on their own college road trip. Porter has planted actors at Northwestern, one screaming at Melanie they lost an eye at Georgetown. Melanie almost falls for it until one of the actors says to her "Yeah, the chief's a pretty smart guy", since he never met Porter.

Their car soon breaks down and they find Trey in the trunk with Albert and a supply of oxygen. They stop at a hotel (thanks to Albert's navigating) but end up causing trouble when Albert eats coffee beans and becomes hyperactive. They run into Doug and Wendy again, who offer Melanie and Porter a ride since Porter's car broke down. Later, Melanie and her father ride on a tour bus where they try to work out their differences. At one destination, Nancy and Katie show up and take Melanie to a sorority house. Porter, due to a misunderstanding, and the owner not letting him in to check on her, sneaks into the house. After hearing that his daughter has faith in him, he decides to leave the next morning. Unfortunately, after Melanie leaves, he gets caught by the owner and brutally tased. Porter's mother comes to bail him out, and opens up about her own past fears when her son went to the Army, but still believed in her son to go his own path.

Porter and Melanie end up forgiving each other at the airport. After dropping off Trey, they skydive to make the interview at Georgetown. Melanie is nervous, but Porter tells her she can do it and that they didn't come all this way for nothing. She then is accepted into Georgetown, which Wendy is accepted into too.

In the end, James copes with letting go and the final scene shows the family at Thanksgiving dinner. Melanie introduces her friend Tracy (who is a guy). James learns to cope with this, and Doug's daughter announces her engagement to Scooter (Lucas Grabeel
Lucas Grabeel
Lucas Stephen Grabeel is an American actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, director and producer. As a performer, he is best known for his role as Ryan Evans in Disney Channel Original Movie's High School Musical and its sequels High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year , and as...

) which causes an enraged Doug to finally freak out and attack him.

Deleted scenes include an alternate opening where James foils a bank robbery and a phone conversation where Michelle Porter, a real estate agent, is listening to Melanie's and James's complaints while Michelle is in the middle of showing a house to a couple. The couple think Michelle is talking to another buyer and decide to buy the house themselves.

Cast

  • Martin Lawrence
    Martin Lawrence
    Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stand up comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably the films Bad Boys, Blue Streak, and Big Momma's House...

     as Chief James Porter
  • Raven-Symone
    Raven-Symoné
    Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman , known professionally as Raven-Symoné , or simply Raven, is an American actress, singer, songwriter, comedian, dancer, television producer and model. Symoné launched her successful career in 1989 after appearing in The Cosby Show as Olivia...

     as Melanie 'Mel' Porter
  • Donny Osmond
    Donny Osmond
    Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...

     as Doug Greenhut
  • Kym Whitley
    Kym Whitley
    Kym Elizabeth Whitley is an American actress and comedienne.-Early life:Whitley was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.-Career:...

     as Michelle Porter
  • Brenda Song
    Brenda Song
    Brenda Song is an American actress, film producer, and model. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd...

     as Nancy Carter
  • Eshaya Draper
    Eshaya draper
    Eshaya Draper is an American child actor. His first major role was in the 2008 Disney movie College Road Trip. He was chosen over thousands of children with a submitted videotape of himself acting.-Filmography:...

     as Trey Porter
  • Molly Ephraim
    Molly Ephraim
    Molly Ephraim is an American actress who has appeared in films, on television and in Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatre productions. She is best known for playing the role of Wendy Greenhut in the 2008 film College Road Trip, and the daughter, Ali, in Paranormal Activity 2...

     as Wendy Greenhut
  • Margo Harshman
    Margo Harshman
    Margo Cathleen Harshman is an American actress who played Tawny Dean on the Disney Channel series Even Stevens.- Personal life :...

     as Katie
  • Vincent Pastore
    Vincent Pastore
    Vincent Pastore is an Italian-American actor, often cast as a mobster and best known for the role of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on The Sopranos.-Early life:...

     as Freddy
  • Lucas Grabeel
    Lucas Grabeel
    Lucas Stephen Grabeel is an American actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, director and producer. As a performer, he is best known for his role as Ryan Evans in Disney Channel Original Movie's High School Musical and its sequels High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year , and as...

     as Scooter, geeky boy.
  • Will Sasso
    Will Sasso
    William "Will" Sasso is a Canadian comedian and actor. He is most notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on the American sketch comedy series MADtv, spending five seasons on the show.-Early life:...

     as Deputy O'Mally
  • Josh Meyers
    Josh Meyers
    Joshua Dylan "Josh" Meyers is an American actor, known for being a cast member of the sketch comedy MADtv and playing Randy Pearson in the eighth and final season of That '70s Show...

     as Deputy Stuart
  • Kelly Coffield Park
    Kelly Coffield Park
    Kelly Coffield Park is an American actress and comedian. She is known for being one of two white members of the original cast in the sketch comedy television series In Living Color ....

     as Sorority House Mother
  • Joseph R. Gannascoli
    Joseph R. Gannascoli
    Joseph R. Gannascoli is an Italian-American actor and celebrity spokesman most notable for his portrayal of Vito Spatafore on the HBO series, The Sopranos.-Early life:Joseph R. Gannascoli was born and raised in Brooklyn....

     as Mr. Arcarra
  • Michael Landes
    Michael Landes
    Michael Christopher Landes is an American actor. He is known for his roles of Jimmy Olsen in the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Detective Nicholas O'Malley in Special Unit 2, Officer Thomas Burke in Final Destination 2, and David Conlon in The Wedding Bells.-Lois...

     as Donny
  • Adam LeFevre
    Adam LeFevre
    Adam LeFevre is an American character actor, poet and playwright who works in cinema, television, theater and commercials....

     as Judge
  • Eugene Jones as Hunter
  • Lonny Ross
    Lonny Ross
    Lonny Ross is a comedy actor and writer. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his work as Josh Girard on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock...

     as Student Guide
  • Na'Kia Bell Smith as 6-Year-Old Melanie

Production

Cinco Paul and partner Ken Daurio wrote the most recent draft. The movie was born out of the Disney Writers Program by Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki. The movie was produced by Andrew Gunn/Gunn Films and directed by Roger Kumble
Roger Kumble
Roger Kumble is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright.-Life and career:Kumble was raised in Harrison, New York and graduated from Harrison High School. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988, where he wrote for the "Waa Mu" show...

.

Filming began July 8, 2007. Symone's character original first name was Rachael.

Promotion

To promote the movie in the United States, Raven-Symoné
Raven-Symoné
Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman , known professionally as Raven-Symoné , or simply Raven, is an American actress, singer, songwriter, comedian, dancer, television producer and model. Symoné launched her successful career in 1989 after appearing in The Cosby Show as Olivia...

 appeared on WWE WrestleMania XXIV
WrestleMania XXIV
WrestleMania XXIV was the twenty-fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . The event took place on March 30, 2008, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida and was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Florida...

, Chelsea Lately
Chelsea Lately
Chelsea Lately is an American late night comedy talk show hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler on E!. The show debuted on July 16, 2007, and is produced by Handler's production company, Borderline Amazing Productions...

, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's TRL
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...

, Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...

, The View, BET's
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...

 106 & Park
106 & Park
106 & Park is a Top Ten Hip-Hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that airs weekdays at 6:00 PM on BET . Since its inception, it was the network's #1 rated show...

,The Cheetah girls and The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....

. The theme song of the movie was "Double Dutch Bus", sung by Raven-Symoné. The music video for the song appeared on Disney Channel and was included in her self-titled album
Raven-Symoné (album)
- Thick Girls, Big Girls - EP :An extended play of left-over songs from the album was released free of charge on the iTunes Store on June 6, 2009.-Leftover Tracks:...

. The music video included scenes from the movie. Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 TV spots were aired promoting the film in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The first trailer appeared alongside Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a 2007 film written and directed by Zach Helm. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the owner of a magical toy store, and Natalie Portman as his store employee.-Plot:...

and Enchanted.

Advertising for the film used the tagline "They just can't get there fast enough."

The film did not receive a cinema release in Australia. Although promotions for the film aired on Disney Channel Australia, a confirmed date for the movie to begin screening in theatres was never given. The film was released direct-to-DVD instead.

Critical reception

The film received mainly negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reported that 13% of critics gave the film positive reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 reported the film had an average score of 34 out of 100, based on 46 reviews. The New York Times gathered positive reviews toward the leading cast's performance. Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stand up comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably the films Bad Boys, Blue Streak, and Big Momma's House...

 received positive reviews from several magazines, Rotten Tomatoes criticized his appearance yet again. 411 Mania gave it a final score of 7.5 out of 10 based on several reviews and managed to give it a positive DVD and film review. The film also received positive reviews from Blu-ray.com, Kansas City Star and several other publications including the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. The film also received negative reviews from USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

and San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed approximately $14 million in 2,706 theaters in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, ranking #2 at the box office. The movie continued on to gross $31,117,834 to finish off the month, making it the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film to be released under 2000 screens.

The following Monday, it pulled in $2,253,215. Among films that had fewer than 1,000 screens on opening day, the film ranked second. College Road Trip opened with $8.6 million on 683 screens and Borat
Borat
Borat Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen...

opened (in 2006) with $9.2 million on 837 screens. It averaged $45,560 per screen in its opening weekend, giving it the highest average per theater of all time for a limited release film. Because of the strong demand, Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

 extended the film's run indefinitely.

Home media

The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

 on July 15, 2008. Both the DVD and BD releases contain the following bonus features.
  • Deleted scene
    Deleted scene
    In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...

    s including alternate opening and ending
  • "Double Dutch Bus" music video
    Music video
    A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

  • Audio commentary
    Audio commentary
    On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...

     by director Roger Kumble
    Roger Kumble
    Roger Kumble is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright.-Life and career:Kumble was raised in Harrison, New York and graduated from Harrison High School. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988, where he wrote for the "Waa Mu" show...

    , writers Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki, and stars
  • Raven's Video Diary - Tag along on the set of the hot young stars from sensation Disney shows and movies
  • On the Set: "Double Dutch Bus" - A behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the film's signature song
  • Blooper
    Blooper
    A blooper, also known as an outtake or boner is a short sequence of a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms of misspoken words...

    s


College Road Trip sold 439,809 copies in the first week of release pulling in $8,030,648 of additional revenue for the franchise. It has sold a total of 1,004,834 copies since its release and made a total of $18,461,049 in DVD sales.
  • Billboard Top DVD Sales: #2
  • Billboard Top Video Rentals: #2

Book

In May 2008, Disney Press
Disney Press
Disney Press is a department of The Walt Disney Company specifically used to produce books of various genres and for various age groups . Many of the books Disney Press produces are picture books based on Mickey Mouse and friends and other characters from many popular Disney animated features...

 released a book based on the movie written by Alice Alfonsi. The novel has the printed original movie poster as the cover.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result
2008 Teen Choice Award
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...

"Choice Comedy Movie"
Golden Icon Awards/28th Golden Icon Awards "Favourite Teen Movie"
Summer Fort Myers Beach Film Festival "Fav Summer Teen Flick Comedy"
2009 Teen Film/TV Series International Awards Best Actress: Lead Role on Comedy Film for Raven-Symoné
Best Teen Film of the Year
Best Comedy Film of the Year
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