The "Santa Clarita Diet" Is Not For Everyone

Santa Clarita Diet (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson, Skyler Gisondo,

Created by Victor Fresco

The Story:

Sheila and Joel Hammond (Barrymore & Olyphant) are realtors in Santa Clarita. They're struggling to make sales while also raising a teenage daughter (Hewson). Oh, and apparently Sheila has somehow become a zombie, and now they have to see if they can find a cure to save her!

Welcome to one of the newest original series on Netflix.

It's as if they saw how good iZombie was and said, "hey, we want a zombie show too!"

And here we are.

It's got a great cast, anchored by Olyphant and Barrymore.

Barrymore gets to let her hair down as she becomes more and more acting on impulse as she devolves further into her zombie state.

Olyphant gets to play broader comedy as the husband who vows to stand by his wife, even to the point of committing murder to help satisfy her hunger cravings.

The show starts off rather slow, but by the 4th and 5th episode, they hit their stride and things begin to take off.  It builds to a satisfying cliffhanger that leads to the second season.

The show, overall, is good, not great.

I've run into the usual problem I have with Netflix originals:

The #$@@#ing language!

We get it, you're not on broadcast tv, you can let the F-bombs fly.

And they do.

Repeatedly.

Too much for me to feel comfortable watching with any of my kids, even the older ones, in the room.

Or even the wife for that matter.

And that's too bad, as we both really enjoy both Olyphant and Barrymore.

I guess I'll just have to fill that void by rewatching Justified and Drew's old romantic comedies.

Final Grade: B-

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