COLLEGE ROAD TRIP — * 1/2 — Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symone, Donny Osmond; rated G (violence, mild vulgarity, brief drugs)

The road trip featured in "College Road Trip" may only be 700 or so miles, but it feels longer. Much, much longer.

That's because, among other things, this comedy is a painful and disingenuous attempt to turn the formerly hard-partying, R-rated comedian Martin Lawrence into a cuddly, family-friendly film star.

He's clearly trying to follow the career path of Eddie Murphy and Ice Cube, who had hits with the "Nutty Professor" and the "Are We ... Yet?" movies. But Lawrence is a considerably less endearing presence than either of those two, and his constant camera mugging makes the movie's 80-plus minutes seems like 800 or more. Many, many more.

Lawrence stars as James Porter, a small-town Illinois police chief who's very overprotective when its comes to his teenage daughter, Melanie (Raven-Symone).

James has even planned out Melanie's future college career for her — at nearby Northwestern University. Needless to say, he isn't too thrilled when she decides she at least wants to check out the farther-away Georgetown University instead.

So he decides to drive her to the college-entrance interviews. Melanie isn't too thrilled, especially when it turns out there's a pair of stowaways in the vehicle — her nerdy younger brother, Trey (Eshaya Draper), and his potbellied pig.

Director Roger Kumble and two credited screenwriting teams can barely come up with an hour's worth of material. That explains why it's padded out with a musical number by Raven (a karaoke-style performance of "Double Dutch Bus"), and some particularly unfunny gags are repeated numerous times.

And neither Lawrence nor Raven seem all that excited about being in the movie. Or to be playing father and daughter, when it comes right down to it.

In fact, the one person who seems to realize how awful this material is is Donny Osmond, who pops up in a couple of scenes as a chirpy dad. We'd rather watch him than Lawrence any day.

"College Road Trip" is rated G, but it features comic violence (pratfalls and slapstick, as well as some fisticuffs and vehicular mayhem), mildly vulgar toilet humor and a fleeting drug reference. Running time: 83 minutes.

---

E-mail: jeff@desnews.com