Who's Who?

Ice Cube Nia Long John C McGinley Aleisha Allen hilip Bolden Jonathan Katz Linda Kash Alexander Kalugin Dan Joffre Pedro Miguel Arce Tahj Mowry Jacob Vargas Brenda Prieur Hayes MacArthur

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Nick Persons Suzanne Persons Chuck Mitchell Jr Lindsey Persons Kevin Persons Mr Rooney Mrs Rooney Russian Contractor Billy Pulu Georgie Pulu Danny Pulu Mike the Plumber Grandma Pulu Jimmy the Bartender

What The Critics Say

"McGinley's scene-stealing antics are the most appealing part of "Are We Done Yet?" The tug of war that develops between him and Ice Cube fuels the film's best scenes." Mack Bates MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ".. it's amusing to watch Ice play straight-man to McGinley's perky, needy, too-helpful Chuck." Roger Moore ORLANDO SENTINEL "McGinley, currently committing a similar outrage against restraint in "Wild Hogs," plays Chuck as so sweetly crazy, obnoxious, calculating and over-the-top that, in contrast with Nick's ongoing sourness, he can't help but steal the movie." John Anderson VARIETY

"I chuckled when we first meet John C McGinley's effeminate and permanently grinning Chuck, who literally changes hats for each of the positions he holds - real estate agent, local inspector, midwife (baby-whisperer), construction supervisor, capoeira (Brazilian martial srts) expert, fire-dancer, relationship therapist etc." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Instead of Suzanne's mischievous kids, Nick's tormentors this time around are an assortment of wild animals—a raccoon who causes him to fall through a ceiling, bats who chase him from his bedroom, a giant fish that scares him out of a lake—as well as the excessively kindhearted Chuck, whose role as the town's jack of all trades leads him to constantly interfere in Nick's business." Nick Schager SLANT MAGAZINE "McGinley steals the movie as Chuck Mitchell, the jack of all trades who sells Cube the house, returns as city inspector to cite it for endless code violations, then reappears as a contractor to do the required renovation. Insufferably chipper and annoyingly helpful, the character is a live-action variant of the Simpsons' prim, peppy neighbor Ned Flanders." Colin Covert MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

The Inside Story In "Are We Done Yet?", the sequel to the comedy hit "Are We There Yet?", Nick Persons has tied the knot with Suzanne and with her children Lindsey and Kevin, is living a cramped life in his obviously too small condo.He needs a little space. Nick's sold his business and taken an advance from a publishing company handling the first edition of his new venture, a Sports Magazine. Four people and a dog in such a confined space is sure to cause a few problems. "As the Persons become a family and the family gets larger Nick's small, cramped condo doesn‘t cut it," says Cube. "It's time to move to a bigger spot, and that's where all his problems come. He's trying his best to be the head of the household, to blend these two families together as they move to a new neighborhood. To go from a single man to a family of four and soon to be six is a huge adjustment." The fact that he always appears to be on the right side of grumpy doesn't cut any slack with Lindsey and Kevin. Joining Ice Cube in the sequel is Nia Long. "In the last film," says Long, "Suzanne was troubled. She was going through divorce, her ex-husband was playing games; she was much more panicked. In this one you see a resolved woman, a pregnant, married, stay at home mom comfortable with her new life. You see a lighter part of her personality. She's much more optimistic about things." But not about all things it seems. "It was important to us to feature Suzanne as a strong woman, someone with a point of view who was ready to get in there and mix it up when she needed to," says "All About the Benjamins" producer Matt Alvarez. "That's Nia." Cube admits he likes working with Long. The reason? "Nia always brings her A game. I like working with her because she always adds something to the character. We‘ve been working together since my first movie; she‘s one of those actresses that can play anything." Cube is also full of praise for Aleisha Allen and Philip Daniel Bolden. "Even though in the movie Lindsey and Kevin are acting out, Aleisha and Philip are two of the most professional kids I‘ve ever worked with," he says. "I knew they would be prepared, they would be eager to go, that we would get no complaints and we'd have fun. So it was cool to get everybody back together and do it in the summer this time." In "Are We Done Yet?", Lindsey experiences teen love for the first time. Is it the real deal? "It's puppy love," Allen says. "It's really cute. I enjoyed it, it‘s a different role than I've ever played before, so it was fun." While Cube, Long, Allen and Bolden feature in much of the comedic moments in the film, the 'X Factor' is John C McGinley who provides most of the big laughs. "John is one of the best actors I've worked with, he just engulfs the character," raves Ice Cube. "We had him doing everything from being a yoga instructor to doing a fire dance, and he was able to do it all. He brought such energy to the part and brought Chuck to life." For those who may be pondering over where they have heard the name John C McGinley before here's a couple of solid clues. If you are a fan of "Scrubs" you'd know McGinley plays Dr Perry Cox. But did you know he has appeared in one hundred and thirty one episodes? Others will have seen him in the smash hit comedy "Wild Hogs" in which he played a Highway Patrolman. Doesn't ring a bell? Well last chance. He appeared with John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Alfred Molina and Amanda Peet in the thriller/drama "Identity". "The first note I wrote in the margin of the script," recalls McGinley, "was Fill the void. It seemed clear right away that Chuck was compensating for something, and I was fascinated to play somebody like this and then, almost like a detective, figure out what he's compensating for." Chuck is a role McGinley plays extremely well. The catalyst for bringing these characters together is of course a house. Not just any old house, but one that needs a 'little' fixing up. Finding the right house was critical for the production team. "The house is truly a character on its own," says producer Matt Alvarez. "It's one of the things we responded to in the material when we first read the screenplay. Anybody who's ever owned a house has been through a renovation experience where things have gone wrong. The setting had to be universal." As they say in the Real Estate trade, it's location, location, location. "In the beginning, there was a struggle conceptually about whether or not we wanted the house to be isolated in the countryside with no visible neighbors," says production designer Nina Ruscio. "In the end, we wanted something where you felt as if it were large scale suburbia, but not isolated countryside. It didn‘t make sense for the characters to move to farmland." After a lengthy search, location manager Bruce Brownstein led the team to Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, just outside Vancouver. "As soon as we came to this particular site, everyone was ecstatic," recalls Brownstein. "It had the proximity to other houses, but they were not too close. Also, it had a large meadow in which to build. Once upon a time, this was a house site that the city of Burnaby purchased, and the old house was torn down, so it had a natural feel to it. It also had oak trees in the background that would frame the house beautifully." The house the Persons move into comes complete with a cottage. Brownstein revealed, "while it looks like a beautiful stone cottage that's been here for 150 years, it is, in fact, foam." "That's true," laughs Ruscio. "One hundred percent authentic foam. It‘s a mold that we poured from actual stones, and repeated as well in the foundation of the house. So when you knock on the cottage walls, it's just beautiful painted foam. What a marvelous job the scenics and sculptors did for us on this!" Don't worry if you are fooled because as Ruscio notes, "reality was attested to when the public requested both the pond and cottage be allowed to remain after filming, with the cottage used perhaps to house a coffee shop. And the lake used in the fishing segments? The team used Rice Lake in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. "It's actually below dam and below intake for fresh drinking water for Vancouver," says Brownstein, "but they treat it as though it's a watershed area." He also added, "the Reserve is very pro-filming and, in fact, we left our dock behind as a viewing platform because it was a good place for people to stand and look over the lake." Filming in Vancouver might lead to question the weather aspect. "We had an unbelievable experience in Vancouver," says "Suddenly 30" executive producer Todd Garner. "Every day was more beautiful than the next. Since a lot of this movie takes place outside, we got incredibly lucky." Having such good weather allowed the crew "to maximize the gorgeous view of the meadow and the lake we built this beautiful house on," says Ruscio. A philosophical Ice Cube notes, "Any homeowner soon realizes that a house is a lifelong project. It's more than just a place to live it's the place you raise your family. It's not just a house, it's a home. It's never finished." "we brought to this film not only our own experiences but all the other hilarious stories we heard and tried to include here. And along the way, as we,ve been shooting, we‘ve seen a lot of people nodding, saying 'I know exactly how they feel'." Synopsis

Now married to Suzanne, Nick Persons has sold his memorabilia business, moved everyone into his cramped apartment, started publishing business and after living on his own for so long, is trying to find a minute peace and get on with publishing the first edition of his sports magazine. It's time to move up to something they can all fit comfortably into. He decides to buy a house in the country and escape the rat race of the big city. He hopes it will provide all the space his new wife and kids, Lindsey and Kevin, need. But when his new home quickly becomes a costly 'fixer upper' and he finds himself at the mercy of an eccentric contractor, Nick's suburban dream soon becomes a nightmare. More importantly, as much effort as the house will require, the Persons are going to find that it will take even more work to make the house a home. Try hard Nick soon finds himself isolated from his family.

The Verdict "After seeing the trailer for "Are We Done Yet" I was hoping against all hope that (1) they hadn't shown all the funniest bits and (2) as a sequel, it wouldn't turn out to be a dud. Surprise! Surprise! It's actually quite funny. No not down-right funny, but quite funny. There are plenty of laughs, most of which come from an excellent performance by John C McGinley as Chuck Mitchell Jr who besides being the local real estate agent, is a renovations contractor, city inspector, former NBL player, mid-wife and more. There's lots of chaos as the stubborn Nick takes on more then he can handle with disastrous result all of which leads to isolating himself from not only the local trademen but his pregnant wife Suzanne and the kids, thirteen year old Lindsey and eight year old Kevin. The animal antics will have the little ones in the audience squealing with delight while the older cinemagoers who enjoyed "Are We There Yet" or are big fans of Ice Cube will get their monies worth with this second Persons family outing, "Are We Done Yet? Ideal for a family day out during the school holidays. 3 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "ARE WE DONE YET?" stars .......
Ice Cube ["Barbershop", "Barbershop 2: Back In Business", "Boyz N the Hood" and "Are We There Yet?"]; Method Fest Directors Award winner John C McGinley ["Wall Street", "Born on the Fourth of July", "Any Given Sunday" and "Point Break"]; Aleisha Allen ["The Best Man", "Finding Forrester", School Of Rock and "Are We There Yet?"]; Philip Bolden ["Johnson Family Vacation", "The Animal", "Are We There Yet?" and "How to Eat Fried Worms"]; Jacob Vargas ["Next Friday", "Traffic", "Flight Of The Phoenix" and "Bobby"]; Linda Kash ["Urban Safari", "Ernest Goes to Africa", "Best in Show", "Cinderella Man" and "Man of the Year"] and Nia Long ["Big Momma's House", "Boyz N the Hood", "Alfie" and "Big Momma's House 2"] as Suzanne Persons.
"ARE WE DONE YET?" was .......
directed by Steve Carr ["Next Friday", "Dr. Dolittle 2", "Daddy Day Care" and "Rebound"]; screenplay by Hank Nelken ["Evil Woman" and "Killer Bud"]; production design by Nina Ruscio ["Big Fat Liar", "Just Married" and "Cheaper by the Dozen"]; director of photography by Jack N Green A.S.C. ["Twister", "Unforgiven", "50 First Dates" and "Click"]; original music by Teddy Castellucci ["The Longest Yard", "The Animal", "50 First Dates", "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and "Wild Hogs"]; edited by Craig Herring ["Groundhog Day", "Dr Dolittle 2", "Analyze This" and "Scary Movie 4"]; costume design by Jori Woodman ["White Chicks", "Lake Placid", "Final Destination 1 & 2" and "Eight Below"]. Run Time 92 minutes Rated PG [AUST] ©2007 Sony Pictures ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.