Review of Vacation (2015) by Chris R — 02 Nov 2015

An understandable reboot/sequel/remake of the dormant and out-dated Vacation series that throws everything at the wall to get a laugh and just misses the mark of being a passable comedy and is far from the greatness of the original series.

The Griswolds are back (kind-of) and this time we follow a now-adult, Rusty as he decides to re-create the same trip to Walley World his father took them on when he was younger, with again, disastrous results; see what they did there? The writers/directors have written comedies like Horrible Bosses and its sequel and this is their first hand at directing; they do a decent-enough job but they're no John Hughes and Harold Ramis.

The cast never really worked for me as Ed Helms is mis-cast as Rusty, and plays the role too dim-witted to take seriously and his kids are too over-the-top to be believable. The best actor is actually Christina Applegate, who actually felt like a human character and not a cartoon like most of the rest of the cast and she had some genuinely funny moments.

Chris Hemsworth is also hilarious in his small, but memorable role and his cameo is easily the strongest, just ahead of the man himself, Chevy Chase. Unlike the original film, which was barely R-rated, this film goes straight for the gutter with crude, mean-spirited, and scatological humour that is amusing at first, and then becomes too repetitive to enjoy any longer and it felt like the Farrelly Brothers had taken over the script at times.

The most absurd joke they attempt to make work is their ridiculously fake/futuristic "foreign" car that could rival, KITT with its many functions and it is easily the worst running gag in the movie.

The film feels more like a group of sketches that were thrown together to make a road trip movie and then had the Vacation title slapped onto it as opposed to a cohesive comedy. I didn't hate it by any stretch of the imagination and at times the outrageous jokes did make me laugh, but having grown up with the earlier franchise, this can't hold a candle to the greatness Chevy Chase brought and while he was a lovable, screw-up who was trying to bond with his family, this Griswold gang doesn't even feel like they exist in the real world.