Review of National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) by Jacob B — 24 Mar 2018

Look, I like John Hughes regardless of whether he's directing or just the writer but European Vacation just isn't as good as the other two Vacation movies I've seen. What's the story? There isn't one! No really, the Griswolds win a vacation to Europe after participating in a game show where they dress up as pigs and Ellen accidentally gets the right answer because her husband and the name of the man who serves as the answer to a question just happen to be the same and they travel to Europe.

That's it, they just engage in wacky misadventures in Europe that would be more suitable for a TV show than a movie. The third act has these criminals in Italy that serve no purpose other than to help Clark redeem himself for Ellen.

How so? Well, I won't go into any spoilers but does it really matter? Why didn't we have this conflict throughout the whole movie? It would at least allow for some entertainment beyond culture shock.

It made me laugh a couple of times, the actors are trying and in the end, I still admire the chemsitry between Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as the Griswolds feel like a genuine family. One thing that really annoyed me the most was that the daughter Audrey is constantly complaining that she's homesick and she misses her boyfriend Jack.

It really pissed me off. You could tell me that Tommy Wiseau was involved in those scenes and I'd believe you. Some of the jokes would've been funnier if we didn't know the punchline in advance.

Mainly one involving German relatives. I the end, European Vacation is a bland comedy with barely an ending at all and only a few genuine laughs here and there.