This Isn't Your Father's "Vacation"

Vacation (2015)

Rated R

Starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins

Written and Directed by John Francis Daley, Johnathan M. Goldstein

The Story:

Rusty Griswold (Helms) decides to take the wife (Applegate) and kids (Gisondo & Stebbins) on a road trip instead of their usual family vacation. And if you're a Griswold and need a vacation, where do you go?

Walley World.

What could possibly go wrong?

While the world awaited with breathless anticipation for the latest installment of the Star Wars saga, I'm not sure too many people were clamoring to see what happened next with the Griswold family.

Thankfully, they decided to continue, and not reboot, the adventures of the world's most inept travelers by passing the mantle to Rusty.

Funny idea, halfway through the movie, they should have changed out actors to play Rusty and not have the family miss a beat at all.

:)

As I mentioned in the title, this isn't your father's vacation. It's not yours, either.

Most of us grew up on the original and Christmas Vacation, and those two are beloved classics.  That the original Vacation is saddle with an R rating is pretty much overlooked, because it is so tame compared to what would receive an R rating in ensuing years.

And in 2015, that R rating is going to be a machine gun of language from start to finish, from every character under the sun, especially the youngest son.

So no, it's doubtful this will ever become a classic addition to the franchise because there are doubtful few families who would watch this together and find it funny.

That said, many of the gags are funny.

However, many are not.

It's an uneven Vacation at best, but their heart was in the right place and you have to give the entire cast an A for effort.

Which ends up on the bell curve of movies:

Final Grade: C

It's A Long Way Down, The Holiday Road..." National Lampoon's Vacation"

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

Rated R for language and brief nudity

Starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron

Directed by Harold Ramis

The Story:

Clark Griswold (Chase) is set to take his family from Chicago halfway across country to Wally World, the family amusement park of choice!  Instead of flying, they plan on taking a road trip across country.

What could possibly go wrong?

It's been over 30 years since we first met the Griswold family, and they live out the American Dream, turned horrific nightmare that plagues the back of the mind of every dad who prepares for a road trip with their family.

Written by John Hughes, and directed by Harold Ramis, this comedy classic has endured for generations and is only overshadowed by the ever-popular Christmas Vacation due to the seasonal nature of that one enjoying repeated holiday viewings and becoming a family tradition for most people around Christmas time.

The original though is no slouch.

Between laugh out loud jokes, gags and pratfalls, Vacation has it all.

Anchored by arguably Chevy Chase's finest performance, he plays the perfect father who sets the bar way too high, and then slowly erupts when he can no longer even get close to clearing the bar.

D'Angelo is the perfect foil who tries to keep her manic husband in check along the way.

Then of course, the memorable minor characters who litter the landscape along the road trip.  From the crazy Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) to the elusive Girl in the Ferrari (Christie Brinkley), the story is chock full of characterization for even the smallest of cameos.

Filled with memorable characters and quotable dialogue, this is one of those comedies that has endured.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I do own it, and while it doesn't get the multiple viewings per year of the Holiday version, it averages a viewing every year or two.

The Twelve Reviews of Christmas...Day Ten: "Christmas Vacation"

Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

The Story:

Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) Griswold are back, along with their kids Rusty 3.0 (Johnny Galecki) and Audrey (Juliette Lewis).  This time, they are staying at home and getting the house ready for the in-laws to visit!  It's going to be the best Christmas.... Ever!!!

The Griswolds exist to remind you that no matter how bad  your vacations are, things could always be worse!

The third, and best, of the series returns with John Hughes pulling out all the stops for a Christmas classic, helmed by first time director Jeremiah Chechik.  It was all downhill for him after this film, but what a promising start to a career!

However, for the most part, the movie runs solely on the wonderful gags and dialogue that John Hughes developed for his cast, led by the perfectly cast Chase as the patriarch of the family.

I'm not here to argue on Chase's behalf as an actor, but for those that fail to find him funny or insist he's never done any good work, I'll simply say you're wrong, here's proof, and move along.

He is the beleaguered "everyman dad" that eventually some form of torture befalls to make the worst plans come to life.

Thankfully, it's Clark who takes the brunt of what goes wrong and provides the rest of us with a blueprint on how to avoid making the same mistakes.

Randy Quaid returns as the creepy cousin Eddie, and is simply outstanding in his performance.  Chase and Quaid have a perfect back and forth relationship throughout the movie that is just hysterical to watch their delivery, along with the funny lines.

It's not Christmas time until this movie plays, and it's one of a few Christmas movies that is not only allowed to play more than once during the holiday season...

It's encouraged!

If you don't already own a copy, it's also currently streaming on Netflix through the holidays!

Final Grade: A+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Owned it, wearing it out... the kids upgraded the house to a blu ray copy last Christmas!  They love me!! Or the movie... : /

: )

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 12 ~ Christmas Vacation

 Sorry Harold Ramis, but this is the best of the Vacation series.

Written by John Hughes, I told you, he wrote a lot of great stuff, it's perhaps the best take on a family Christmas ever put to screen.

Just with the Griswold's, you have to crank everything up to 11...or higher.

The story:  Clark and Ellen Griswold (Chevy Chase & Beverly D'Angelo) are set to have a very Merry Christmas...unfortunately, both sets of parents are coming to stay for the holidays.  If that wasn't bad enough, Cousin Eddie and his brood show up on their doorstep.  Luckily for Clark, he maintains his holiday cheer because he knows, that his annual Christmas bonus will show up on his door at any moment.

Okay, if typing up yesterday's review for Scrooged started to get me into the Christmas Spirit, then Christmas Vacation puts me over the top.  It's time to skip the Halloween decorations and go straight for the tree, and wonder why eggnog is not carried year round in stores?

The de-aging of Russ and Audrey is hilarious, because they simply do it, and accept it, so the audience goes right along with them.  They don't try and do a prequel or explain anything.  They just make the change, and run with it.   

Chase is at his best as Clark Griswold.  He's been criticized for his entire career for not being funny, a good actor, a pain in the butt off-camera...

Well, I don't care.  Chevy Chase plays Clark to the hilt.  He is a master of comic timing and reactions.  His insults to Cousin Eddie, barely audible, are nothing that every single one of us has done at some point in time to some clod that has irritated us.

In short, Clark Griswold is the father every dad tries to be....and not be...at the same time.

: )

Sadly, Clark simply tries so hard, that when the obvious setback occurs, the pendulum has to swing so far in the other direction, and that is the source of much of the comedy.

He epitomizes the phrase "when it rains, it pours" or "Murphy's Law". 

A dinner can't simply be ruined... the Christmas tree has to go up in flames...and then more bad things begin to pile up.

In short, it's real life, but it's funny because it's not YOUR life.

And it leads to one of the greatest outbursts/meltdowns of any character, in any movie, Christmas or otherwise.

Nope, it's just not Christmas without seeing this one a few times before the big day.