This South African family comedy is harmless enough, but it lacks any defining sense of identity. There are no nonsense, accidents and stupidity Disaster Holiday they look so disastrous, despite how they are presented. And surely, if Joseph had only been honest from the beginning, none of the following “disasters” would have happened. At every step of the journey, Joseph always seems to be unhappy or misunderstood, and this fact makes the film clearly “about Joseph” and not his family. The whole point seems to be to create sympathy for Joseph. He feels like he works hard for his family and (new) wife and doesn’t get the respect he deserves, etc. Still, while the film’s final lesson is surely Joseph’s to learn (choosing family over work), the film is generally largely about Joseph’s perspective.

It’s a shame because this story would be more entertaining from the perspective of the children or the stepmother, who are all excellent in their roles. But most of what they have to do involves supporting or not supporting Joseph’s ideas and decisions. Indeed, everyone revolves around Joseph, and the film chooses to focus on his “plight” and have him on screen for almost the entire duration. But the children and his wives (ex and new wife) are the most important. His children slaughter him because he works too much, doesn’t know what they do and doesn’t understand how social media works. They fight with each other. They wreak havoc and feel like wildcards, which adds the necessary unpredictability. But this is not enough to save the film, even though it is (just) watchable.