Review of Vacation (2015) by Thequietgamer — 27 Nov 2015

Let's be honest, taking a vacation with your family sucks. Overblown expectations and the irritating trip to the destination usually lead to their downfall. The original Vacation did a good job of capturing the worst aspects on them and presented them in a humorous manner. Well the series is back in this pseudo-reboot, and the results are hilarious.

You have to be willing to deal with vulgar humor and gross out gags, but it's certainly no harder to watch than the average R-rated comedy. Especially since the gags come at a near-constant rate and almost always land gracefully. The pacing is a little weird, but I found myself laughing constantly throughout.

The great thing is the movie does a good job of capturing family issues everyone has. Even if they are presented in a more over-the-top fashion. The bond of family is actually pretty strong here, even if it's harder to pick up on it among all of the jokes. There's some heart to be found.

The movie has some really great cameos. Be they the exciting return of character from the original, or just more brief ones like Charlie Day and Norman Reedus, it's pretty cool to see their inclusions in more one-off jokes. A particular standout is Chris Hemsworth.

With some great nods to the original and plenty of it's own unique ideas, 2015's Vacation proves to be a successful revival of the series. Well, provided you enjoy R-rated humor that is. If you do then be prepared for a lot of laughs. It's a great, modern take on the classic. While I wouldn't recommend going into it expecting it to be exactly like the original, it hits some of the same ideas in new ways. Those who followed the series and can deal with more modern R-rated humor can still be entertained. I, for one, enjoyed almost every bit of it, and wouldn't mind traveling with the new generation of Griswolds again.