• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
This is the movie poster for "Family Camp." The Catholic News Service classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. (CNS photo/Roadside)

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Family Camp’

May 18, 2022
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, Movie & Television Reviews

NEW YORK (CNS) — There’s some good news about the evangelical comedy “Family Camp” (Roadside): Predictably, it’s almost squeaky clean and thus appropriate for a wide range of age groups. But that’s, alas, where the glad tidings about this leaden production cease.

Tommy Woodard and Eddie James, who play the film’s central characters, make up a duo known as The Skit Guys. Perhaps they’re funnier in the short-form routines that name suggests. At feature length, however — at least if this movie is anything to go by — they spin their wheels to little effect.

Woodard plays business-obsessed dad Tommy Ackerman. In a bid to get Tommy to focus more on being a spouse and father, his wife, Grace (Leigh-Allyn Baker), convinces him to sign their family up for a weeklong visit to the summer camp their parish runs.

Instead of bonding with Grace and their kids, teen Hannah (Cece Kelly) and young Henry (Jacob M. Wade), though, Tommy gets caught up in a rivalry with Eddie Sanders (James), the eccentric patriarch of the clan with whom the Ackermans share their rustic accommodations. As the guys compete feverishly in various contests and bicker before bonding, nary a smile is likely to be raised among viewers.

If director and co-writer Brian Cates’ picture is woefully inert when trying to be humorous, it’s even more ineffective when the script he penned with Rene Gutteridge turns sentimental or preachy. The proceedings, moreover, seem to unfold in some sort of Ozzie-and-Harriet alternate universe.

Thus Corbin (Clayton Royal Johnson), the caddish lad for whom Hannah briefly falls, accuses her of being “a tease” for refusing to share her first kiss with him. In 2022? If only.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with the concept of using comedy to spread Gospel values. The foundations of the papacy, after all, were laid down with a pun. But Cates and company fail to make that recipe at all flavorful here — and the upshot, even when considered with a predisposition to be sympathetic to their project, is cinematic gruel.

The film contains one vague sexual reference. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.   

Read More Movies & Television Reviews

superman

Movie Review: Superman

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

Jurassic World Rebirth

Movie Review: Jurassic World Rebirth

Movie Review: M3GAN 2.0

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Fox Nation announces second season for ‘Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints’

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

John Mulderig

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

  • superman Movie Review: Superman

| CURRENT EDITION |

CR digital edition

| Vatican News |

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

Russia Ukraine Vatican peace

Pope: Vatican still ready to host peace talks between Russia, Ukraine

Pope prays for conversion of those resisting climate action at new Mass

Castel Gandolfo

After 12 years, locals welcome pope back to his summer home

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

| Movie & Television Reviews |

superman

Movie Review: Superman

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

Jurassic World Rebirth

Movie Review: Jurassic World Rebirth

Movie Review: M3GAN 2.0

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

| En español |

‘No tengan miedo de hacer lo que El Señor quiere para nosotros’

Dios quiere ayudar a las personas a descubrir su valor y dignidad, dice el Papa

El ‘Padre Migrante’ nos relata su vida sirviendo a comunidades inmigrantes

El ‘Obispo Bruce’ forjó fuertes lazos con Baltimore en tiempos difíciles y tenía corazón de pastor

El Papa León comienza su pontificado pidiendo una ‘Iglesia unida’ en un mundo herido

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED