Review of Vegas Vacation (1997) by Troy F — 29 Jun 2015

I know this gets a wrap as the worst in the series, but I found this marginally better than European Vacation. Whereas that film was weak and annoying, this film is just... weak. The best moments only come out out of Chevy Chase's rare moments of hilarity as an actor, which were wearing off by this time.

The problem with the whole film is that stuff happens, but nothing is really funny or matters to the audience. The family splits off and does their own thing in this film, each one taking part in certain fortunes, like Rusty becoming rich from gambling, Audrey becomes a club dancer, and Ellen in a affair with Wayne Newton.

Cousin Eddie is back, but he doesn't do a whole lot, more or less annoying at times. I guess the situations are whacky and bizarre, but there's little to no pay off or punchline to them. One scene had Clark take part in a Siegfried & Roy magic show, where Clark disappears from the act, and then reappears casually at the end - nothing was done to accentuate whether this was funny, it just happens and moves onto the next scene.

That's the whole movie. Vegas Vacation isn't quite a pain to sit through imo, just rather boring. It has its few and subtle (and I mean SUBTLE) moments of humour and charm, but it is overall a very weak and lame comedy that fails to recreate the charm and fun of Vacation or Christmas Vacation.