Review of Vacation (2015) by Marc D — 21 Dec 2015

What Couldn't Have Gone Wrong?

In hopes of bringing his family closer together, Rusty Griswold attempts to recreate his own childhood cross-country vacation by bringing them all to Walley World! As you can expect, nothing goes according to plan for this amusingly dysfunctional family.

Vacation definitely had its moments and was smart enough to be very transparent in its self-awareness towards being an unnecessary sequel but was that really enough? Well... I have to agree with the bulk of the critics for a change when I say that this flick was nothing short of a let down. I felt like they tried a little too hard to catch us off guard with their politically incorrect humor and while some of it was effective, most of it felt almost too mean-spirited to enjoy. The film undeniably featured some pretty hilarious cameos, including the legendary Chevy Chase himself who treats us with some flawless slapstick involving an acoustic guitar. But when the side characters generate bigger laughs than the main cast does, it's not a good sign. Maybe the directors didn't have their GPS coordinates set properly because they definitely brought this Griswold family off course into mediocrity. I have to hand it to Christina Applegate for going all out with her character no matter how embarrassing her big college campus scene may have been. You can tell everyone really tried to give it their all, but as I previously mentioned, sometimes they just tried a little too hard.

Regardless, fans of the original films will be pleased to see the short but fun reunion of Clark and Ellen Griswold for the first time in 17 years, and I'm sure people will get a kick out of Charlie Day's cameo. This It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia comedian isn't on screen for long, but his side-roll as the crazy white water rafting instructor was hilariously priceless! Furthermore, I couldn't resist bopping my head to the classic '70s Holiday Road song that pleasantly supports the clever slide show opening sequence. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm towards the rest of the film isn't so consistent. Sure Chris Hemsworth was surprisingly funny, and the Griswold's infamous 2015 Tartan Prancer, which is actually a fake car created for the movie, proved to be a great impractical highlight, but I can't really think of anything else worth mentioning.

Vacation might be leaps and bounds better than comedies like that abomination Date Movie, that came from 2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie, but that's far from a compliment. One could say some of their jokes are comparable in style, feeling both forced and like a failed attempt to shock, which equally falls flat from the lack of substance or justifiable payoff. Unfortunately, the highly anticipated Dumb & Dumber To suffered similar problems with its inability to persuade the audience in feeling any form of sympathy for its characters. A little sad considering both the original Dumber & Dumber and Vacation films managed to do the complete opposite with the added bonus of leaving the audience in stitches from their gut-busting humor. Thankfully, at least a few modern flicks like Horrible Bosses and The Heat are around to remind us that great comedy isn't completely dead. I just hope to God they don't attempt to give us another Christmas Vacation or, wait a minute? They already did, didn't they? Aw Humbug!

With no memorable lines, grosser gags that your most juvenile Adam Sandler flick and an old Clark Griswold reminding us just what we're missing from the classics, Vacation feels more like a forgettable visit to an annoying relative's house for the weekend. Sure, you may find yourself laughing from time to time, but there won't be any sunsets or piña coladas on this lackluster trip. But hey, at least the slideshows were nice?