Are We Done Yet? [DVD] [2007]

Comedy sequel to ‘Are We There Yet?’ (2005). Nick (Ice Cube) and Suzanne (Nia Long) are now married and have decided to leave the rat race for a quieter life in the suburbs. But when they hire a local contractor (John C. McGinley), their dreams of domestic bliss go up in smoke.

If, 18 years ago, you’d told rapper Ice Cube he would have a hit family movie called Are We There Yet?, he would’ve sneered in your face. Yet here he is with that movie’s sequel, Are We Done Yet?, in which Nick Persons (Cube, Barbershop, Friday) takes his new wife Suzanne (Nia Long, Big Momma’s House) and her two cantankerous kids out to an old house in the country. Unfortunately, the house proves to have a few problems, and Nick finds himself at the mercy of real estate agent/contractor/house inspector/midwife Chuck (John C. McGinley, Scrubs), who before long is turning Nick’s house–and his life–inside out.
The script for Are We Done Yet? is based on a classic (though little remembered) Cary Grant movie, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. While Cube doesn’t have Grant’s comic skills, he has grown into a comfortable and charming screen presence, and he gives this ramshackle entertainment a decent foundation. But it’s McGinley who steals the movie with his truly bizarre yet mesmerizing performance. Aside from some pratfalls, Cube spends most of the movie staring in horror and astonishment at McGinley as the tall lanky white man walks a very fine line between comedy and schizophrenia. –Bret Fetzer