Are We Done Yet? Movies Review

Once again placing his gangsta credentials in serious jeopardy, the rapper Ice Cube returns to the multiplex with "Are We Done Yet?," an ill-advised sequel to "Are We There Yet?" and a feeble fable of better parenting through home improvement.

Loosely based on the 1948 Cary Grant comedy "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," this latest addition to the interrogatory franchise finds Nick Persons (Ice Cube) married to Suzanne (Nia Long) and stepfather to her two children. When Suzanne announces she is pregnant ("By who?" asks a startled Nick), the family exchanges his cramped New York apartment for a rural fixer-upper with more problems than square feet.

While Hank Nelken's slapstick-happy screenplay subjects Nick to countless indignities - including burns, electrocution and attacks by outraged wildlife - Steve Carr directs as though making a very special episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Rising above the melee of blind pipe fitters and Hawaiian dry-rot specialists, however, is a marvelous John C. McGinley, playing a dodgy jack-of-all-trades with the kind of energy that forces other actors to step up their game. He is so good that the script's last-minute gift of a dead wife is completely unnecessary: he redeems his character through acting skill alone.

As for Ice Cube, his transformation from tough-talking rapper to family-friendly entertainer continues. Tempting as it is to inquire, "Are we done yet?" I suspect the answer is no.

"Are We Done Yet?" is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It has a snarling raccoon, a traumatized deer and a rapacious real estate agent.

ARE WE DONE YET?

Opens today nationwide.

Directed by Steve Carr; written by Hank Nelken, based on characters created by Steven Gary Banks and Claudia Grazioso and on the film "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" written by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank; director of photography, Jack Green; edited by Craig P. Herring; music by Teddy Castellucci; production designer, Nina Ruscio; produced by Ted Hartley, Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez and Todd Garner; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 92 minutes.

WITH: Ice Cube (Nick Persons), Nia Long (Suzanne Persons), John C. McGinley (Chuck Mitchell Jr.), Aleisha Allen (Lindsey Persons) and Philip Daniel Bolden (Kevin Persons).