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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
The Vacation franchise has been wildly uneven throughout its 32-year history. The
original cemented Chevy Chase as a movie star and remains one of the most popular
entries in the filmographies of director Harold Ramis and writer John Hughes. Christmas
Vacation has become a yearly tradition for many families, mine included,
mostly because of how perfectly it depicts the insanity that hits people around
the holidays.
The
less we talk about European Vacation and Vegas Vacation the better – we
should probably let them fade into obscurity. This newest installment, which
serves as a sequel/reboot combo focusing on son Rusty Griswold (played by The
Hangover trilogy’s Ed Helms) and his family, confirms an
every-other-entry-is-good pattern.
Helms
could never match Chase’s unforgettably scathing delivery, so he makes this new
Griswold patriarch more of a lovable, well-meaning doofus. It’s a smart narrative
move from screenwriting/directing pair John Francis Daley and Jonathan M.
Goldstein (Horrible Bosses), one that gives the movie a different feel than
its predecessors.
With
his marriage to Debbie (Christina Applegate) in a rut and his sons – the nerdy
James (Skyler Gisondo) and sociopathic Kevin (Steele Stebbins) – at each
other’s throats, the now-adult Rusty surprises his family with the news that he
wants to follow in his father’s footsteps by taking them on a cross-country
trip to Walley World. They’re not overjoyed, but at least it’s not the boring
cabin they trek to every year.
It
goes about as well as you’d expect: Rusty gets stuck with a deathtrap for a
rental car, a psychotic trucker keeps stalking the family, they get ripped off
by a hillbilly thief, their visit with Audrey (Leslie Mann) and her handsome
jerk of a husband (Chris Hemsworth) is a catastrophe, and they get stuck with a
suicidal guide (Charlie Day) on a rafting trip. But Rusty keeps insisting it’ll
all be worth it if they can just make it to Walley World. In other words, he
learned nothing from his dad and history repeats itself.
In
this current climate of nonstop sequels and remakes, a new Vacation was
inevitable. While this update isn’t perfect – the constant parade of famous
faces makes the movie feel like a series of loosely connected skits rather than
a cohesive narrative – it could’ve been a whole lot worse. That may not sound
like a ringing endorsement, but I mean it as a compliment. Updating a (sometimes)
beloved comedic franchise is a minefield, but Daley and Goldstein manage to
navigate it with only a couple of minor explosions.
The
film’s cast is its greatest strength, especially in how the script allows Debbie
to be even crazier than Rusty, which Applegate takes full advantage of. She
must’ve had a blast in this role, and it’s so much better than the clichéd frustrated
wife who is tired of her husband’s wacky schemes. Hemsworth is the other MVP,
absolutely stealing the movie despite his limited screen time.
Like
most modern comedies, the jokes are hit and miss. The filmmakers rely way too
much on gross-out humor (lots of poop, vomit, etc.), but a recurring bit involving
a GPS shouting Korean at the family cracked me up every single time. And
there’s a hilariously random gag involving a rat that had me gasping for
breath.
I
can’t imagine the new Vacation launching another three sequels in the
franchise, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. We should probably just be happy
it works at all, as opposed to the spectacular disaster it could’ve been.
Vacation is rated R for crude and sexual content and language throughout, and brief graphic nudity.
Grade:
B
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