Reviewed - RV Runaway Vacation: FOR all of us non-Americans who didn't know that an RV is a "recreational vehicle" (basically, an outsized mobile home) the distributors have invented an alternative definition for international consumption. Then there is RW - Robin Williams, who hasn't starred in an entertaining comedy in the 10 years since The Birdcage. The bad news is that RW + RV = *.

RW plays Bob, an overworked executive for a California-based soft drinks company. His plans to take his family on holiday in Hawaii are dashed at short notice when his nasty, merger-hungry boss insists that Bob must attend a crucial business meeting in Colorado. Lying seems to come naturally in Bob's job, and he pretends to his family that it would be more fun for them to hire an RV and take a road trip to Colorado.

Cue a series of disasters as soon as he gets behind the wheel, knocking down property even before he gets the vehicle out on to the street. His wife (Cheryl Hines from Curb Your Enthusiasm) and their two self-absorbed children spend most of the trip moaning and archly raising eyebrows while Bob struggles with one problem after another.

Most of these mishaps occur when they are trying to avoid a friendly, folksy clan they sneeringly dub the Partridge Family because of their penchant for breaking into song. As the parents of that well-adjusted family, Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth work valiantly to inject some wit and charm into this dire movie.

Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed the Men in Black films, makes no such effort, apparently being quite content just to shovel on poo and goo.

There are arguably more scatological references in RV than even Pasolini's notorious Salo: an extended sequence involving sewage problems, a diarrhoea-driven ruse, and much talk about turds. And the would-be Capraesque finale sinks under treacly sentiment as RW does his stock simpering bit and the dysfunctional family implausibly bonds in adversity.