Plot
In Portland, Lindsey and Kevin Kingston are two mischievous siblings who sabotage the relationships of their divorced mother in a determined effort to keep her single until their parents reconcile. Meanwhile, single child-hating sports shop owner Nick Persons purchases a brand new Lincoln Navigator and boasts with his beloved bobblehead doll of Satchel Paige who comes to life of its own will though only Nick can hear him. After reaching his store, he witnesses a beautiful woman named Suzanne from across the street. On his way to talk to her, he is disgusted to find she has two kids, who turn out to be Lindsey and Kevin. Later that night, Nick runs into Suzanne and agrees to take her home after she has trouble with her car. As weeks go by the both of them bond and start getting closer to each other. On New Year’s Eve, when he brings her to the local airport to go to Vancouver for a business meeting, Suzanne’s ex-husband Frank calls to say he is sick and cannot bring the children to the airport, leaving her to put her trust in Nick.
Once at her house, he meets Kevin and Lindsey for the second time. The three go to the airport, where Kevin learns that corkscrews, a gift he got from Nick, are prohibited to bring onboard planes. Unable to get to a trash can, he slips the corkscrew in Nick's jacket pocket, which leads to Nick being tackled by security. They decide to take a train, but Kevin and Lindsey jump off to collect a cape from Kevin's action figure just as Nick boards, forcing him to jump off and lose their luggage. They then reluctantly decide to drive.
Believing Nick is only Suzanne's friend, Kevin and Lindsey are tamed but still continue to misbehave. Overhearing a phone call between Nick and his friend Marty, the two learn that Nick not only hates them, but also lied about not having feelings for Suzanne. Kevin fakes an asthma attack to lock Nick out of the car. Lindsey then tries to drive the car away, but fails due to not knowing how to drive, forcing Nick to chase after them and trying to get in from the rooftop. Lindsey drives the car in a butcher statue, causing its axe to hit Nick in his crotch. Later, Lindsey signals to truck driver Al Buck who believes that they have been kidnapped, causing Nick to accidentally drive his car into the woods, down a mountain and crash, resulting in heavy damage to the car, overreacting him further. Ultimately, the kids run away to visit their father in a train with Nick pursuing them on a horse until he falls off.
Once they arrive at Frank's house, Kevin and Lindsey find out that he not only lied about being sick but has already started another family. Feeling betrayed and forgotten, they begin warming up to Nick, as he does with them, when Nick tells them his father also abandoned him. While beginning to become friends, they continue their journey on the road, but still find themselves facing various mishaps on the way. At one point, Kevin has to get an inhaler refill from a pharmacist working as a clown at a chaotic children's New Year's Eve party that in exchange for refilling Kevin's inhaler, Nick must watch the kids, and during this, Lindsey reveals her singing talent, doing a karaoke version of Aretha Franklin's 1967 song "Respect". Back on the road, Kevin vomits on the car's windshield due to having too many sweets at the party and they pull into a conservation area to clean out the car. While Kevin and Nick feed a deer some cookies, Lindsey accidentally scares it with a camera flash, causing the deer to attack Nick, resulting in him losing his car keys. Because of this, Nick tries to hotwire the car using his lighter, but closes the hood inadvertently causing the lighter to tip over and set the car on fire and eventually to explode. Nick chastises the kids causing them to cry, but quickly calms down and apologizes afterward.
With the car now a heap of scrap metal, the trio tries to hitch a ride from Al Buck. Still thinking Nick is a kidnapper, Al leaves him behind and drives off; Nick hitches a ride from a billboard truck driver named Ernst. In Al's truck, the kids attack him, leading to a chase that ends in Vancouver, where Nick fights Al. During the fight, Kevin has an asthma attack and collapses. Nick rushes to his side and revives him. Witnessing the catastrophic event, Suzanne believes trusting Nick was a mistake. After encouragement from Satchel, Nick goes to Suzanne's hotel room to say goodbye to her and the kids. After Suzanne realizes how much Nick and the kids have grown to care for each other, Suzanne tells Nick that he is the one for her, and they kiss as the new year begins, much to the delight of Lindsey and Kevin.
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 12% of 116 surveyed critics gave Are We There Yet? a positive review; the average rating is 3.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "This supposed family comedy starring the usually blameless Ice Cube and Nia Long has provoked most critics to write, Is it over yet?" [6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 27 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. [8]
Box office
Are We There Yet? opened at number one with a gross of $18.6 million in 2,709 theaters, averaging $6,856 per venue. The film's opening weekend made up 22.57% of its final domestic gross. In its second weekend, the film dropped to number two but lost just 12% of its audience, grossing a further $16.3 million, and raised the ten day total to $38.5 million. It closed on June 16, 2005, with a final gross of $97.9 million worldwide ($82.7 million in North America and $15.2 million internationally). [9]
The film was released in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2005, and opened at number six within the first weekend. [10] The next weekend, the film moved up one place, then down back to number six, before finally ending up at number 13 on March 25, 2005. [11] [12] [13]
