Review of National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) by Adam B — 12 Oct 2009

This is the first (and only at the time of writing this) 'National Lampoon' film I've seen, and I can't work out how they made a dozen sequels from this. I feel like I'm in a small minority of people that didn't think this was that great. It's not an awful film but there was just so many things wrong with it.

First of all, the plot and story line is very similar to your typical fun, family film. But then how can it be a family film, when it is rightly so, rated 15? To stick to the fun, family film theme, this film is very cheesy and stupid at times, and who else would play the main role in a cheesy film better than Chevy Chase? Chevy Chase reminds me a lot of Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, but then Chevy Chase. well isn't funny and he's so annoying! The two kids were absolute weiners but their arguments in the back seat of the car were still pretty entertaining.

There were a few moments where I NEARLY laughed, but obviously that's not really enough for a supposedly "hilarious' movie. The humour is sometimes absurd but for the majority of the time it's predictable and lacks any subtlety.

The best thing I can say about this is the story line and plot. They were great, but I just felt the film wasn't executed very well and it seemed to get confused over it's target audience.