ironhorse_iv Review of Vacation

Vacation (I) (2015)

This Poor's man vacation was still pretty funny! Typical to every Griswold family trip, Hilarity Ensues. It's worth the trip!

[6/10 · 3 September 2015]

Once again, the film follows the misadventures of the Griswold family, trying to reach their vacation destination. This time, it's Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), all grown up and with a family of his own. Idealizing past events, Rusty hopes to reconnect with his wife, Debbie (Christina Applegate), and his two kids, James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins), by planning a cross country trip to Wally World. On the way, there, the group encounters several missteps that can only bring their family, closer or farer apart. Can Rusty save his marriage and bond with his children or will the chaos of the trip, be, too much for them, to handle? Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I found this 2015 road trip comedy directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein was somewhat hilarious. Serving as both a reboot and a sequel to the National Lampoon's Vacation series, I like how the movie has direct recalls to the original four films; 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation, 1985's National Lampoon's European Vacation, 1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and last, 1997's Vegas Vacation. Not only that, it has references to the 2003's TV-movie spin off, Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure & 2010's short film, Hotel Hell Vacation. I love all the similar jokes or previous film character cameos. While the movie has all those callbacks, I like how the film was also giving its own vibe. Most of the film's set pieces and locations are different, from the original film, so they're plenty of new humor, coming out of it. Unlike the 1983 version, this Rusty-led version of Vacation has more toilet humor jokes that might be a little too gross for some viewers. For me, I found the overtly raunchy scatological humor, somewhat amusing. It really hit the funny bone. Vacation is also chock full of overtly raunchy crass humor, coarse comments, sexual references, and constant strong language. Still, there were some jokes that really did bug me. Most of them, came from Kevin character. He's supposed to be a little kid, but instead comes off as a complete unwatchable sociopath. The jokes about the truck driver wanting to rape children, the whole plastic bag gag and the mean-spirited jokes from him, are frequently crosses the line into Dude, Not Funny! Territory! His character really hurts the film. Other jokes that fell flat, was cause, by the film quickly abandoning subplots: such as Rusty's brother-in-law, TV anchorman Stone Crandall (Chris Hemsworth) being an extreme conservative. While, some of his jokes were left hanging. Chris Hemsworth still have a very amusing role. I just wish, they had more jokes for his wife, Aubrey (Leslie Mann). She seem underused in the film. Amid the crude/over-the-top content are some positive messages about steadfast marriages and the idea that vacations form lasting impressions on kids. The acting is pretty good. While, Ed Helms might not be playing the same persona of that of the previous Rustys, he honed this role. I like his in-over-his-head normal positive thinking, father know best attitude. He was very likable. He delivers some great, funny reactionary moments throughout the film. Christina Applegate is amazing in her role. I like how her character was able to play to play, into the laughs, as well. In fact, one of the film's funniest moments, was her chug-run sequence. The like of supporting characters played by Keegan-Michael Key, Charlie Day, Michael Pena, Norman Reedus and many others, make this movie, a lot funnier than it could had. As much as the critics, might think, the appearance of Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo toward the end, as lackluster. I have to disagree with them. It was nice to see the two, play their roles, once again. Pretty much all of these cameos are used well, offering a solid comedy beat. I also love that Lindsay Buckingham's 1983 hit single, "Holiday Road", the theme song to most of the Vacation series, is include with this film. Overall: While, the movie could quite capture the inspired lunacy of the original John Hughes-written/Harold Ramis-directed film. However, this remake did pretty well for itself. As long, as you don't take it, took serious. You might like it, too. It's time to take a Vacation, indeed!