Vacation

Starring: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Charlie Day, Ron Livingston, Norman Reedus, Keegan-Michael Key, Regina Hall, Nick Kroll, Michael Pena, Colin Hanks, Kirstin Ford
Directed by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein
Rating: R
Genre: Adventure, Comedy
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) takes his own family on vacation to Walley World. Like when he was a child, the trip doesn't go as planned.

Review:

Tim: When I first heard they were doing a new Vacation movie, I was pretty skeptical. The franchise had been dormant since the franchise-worst Vegas Vacation in 1997. I am still no fan of remakes. And yet, what they did with this film was very clever- it's a partial remake, but more of a sequel to the original quadrilogy of films. It was a brilliant idea to center the film around a grown-up Rusty Griswold and his family. This made the film feel like a continuation of the story, rather than rehashing the same old thing.

The movie has a hilarious scene where the family talks about redoing the "original" vacation that Rusty took with his parents and sister. The scene is a big wink to the audience, but the characters discuss that the "new vacation" will stand on its own. I loved this scene and what it revealed about the mindset of the producers. So sure, a family takes a trip to Walley World- but this felt much more like a logical sequel than an awful remake.

Here's what I never expected- I laughed continually and extremely hard throughout this movie. It's one of the funniest films I have seen in recent years. I'd go so far as to say it's the best film in the franchise since the original National Lampoon's Vacation. I never expected this, but I really enjoyed this movie.

The story does a great job of introducing Rusty's family. They are really their own characters and not a rehash of the characters from the original films. Rusty has two boys, and one of the highlights of the film is how the younger brother continually bullies his older brother. There's so many inappropriate moments, but my all time favorite has to be the line the younger brother makes about the gun and the horse. It was one of the funniest moments I've seen in years. There were a number of truly hilarious moments- the mom's reaction to her son when he says he wants to go to a more Ivy League school than she did is perhaps the single funniest moment of the film. There's so many great sequences, I was laughing again and again. Comedies are notoriously difficult to pull off, but this one did an exceptional job.

I loved the casting of Ed Helms as the grown up Rusty. It continues the tradition of Rusty being played by a different actor in every film. Helms feels like the perfect choice to grab the torch from Chevy Chase. He has a similar good-natured, bumbling personality, but it's different enough to not feel like he's simply copying Chase. He is a different character, yet believable as the grown up son of Clark Griswold. Christina Applegate was hilarious in this film. She was a delight and surprised me with how funny and effective she was. The casting was top notch there. Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins were both perfect as the kids. I thought Leslie Mann was an incredible choice as the grown up Audrey, but I wish she had something more to do. Chris Hemsworth had a small role, but it was memorable and funny. I was so glad Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo were able to show up, but again, it was more of a quick nod to them than anything else. Charlie Day elicited a few laughs and I loved seeing Norman Reedus in his cameo. I also loved seeing Michael Pena- I like him so much, and wish he had more to do, but his presence here was welcome. As a whole, between the main cast members, the supporting players, and the cameos, this film has an incredible amount of talent.

I have to say, I'm a bit surprised this film received more negative reviews than positive ones. The film has some down moments, sure, but as a whole, it's one of the funniest, most entertaining comedies I've seen in a while. I didn't have the highest expectations going in, but Vacation won me over. This is a very strong comedy.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: National Lampoon's Vacation, National Lampoon's European Vacation, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Vegas Vacation