Directors: John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein
Writers: Jonathan M. Goldstein, John Francis Daley
Stars: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo
Strengths: Acting, Comedic elements
Weakness: Over-played franchise
Runtime: 99 minutes
Rating: 3/5
PLOT: The Griswold family is back and packing their bags for a trip to The Walley World amusement park.
REVIEW: In 1983's "National Lampoon's Vacation,"
Chevy Chase played Clark Griswold, a father determined to drag his
family cross-country for a vacation to Walley World. Now we're back to a
familiar place and this time with Clark's grown-up son.
Rusty Griswold takes his own family on a road trip to "Walley World"
in order to spice things up with his wife and reconnect with his sons.
Things go wrong. The family smashes into a cow; they accidentally bathe
in excrement; they even set the GPS to scream at them in Korean. Ed
Helms does the clueless dad act well and Christina Applegate is quite
amusing as his split-persona wife. Chris Hemsworth shows up as Helms's
brother-in-law and, yes, his colossal male extremity gets its share of
snickers.
The best surprises come from the back seat of the car. Whereas the
original had a brother and sister, this time we've got two boys. The
twist is that the younger, prepubescent Kevin (Steele Stebbins) is the
alpha, constantly bullying his dopier, sweeter older brother James
(Skyler Gisondo). It starts out with name calling, but leads to some
shockingly dark places, such as a repeated gag where Kevin manically
tries to smother James with a plastic bag.
At its best, the film is very funny. At its worst, it makes you groan
in dismay. For all its scatological obsessions, Vacation is actually a
very traditional affair in which family ties are reaffirmed. Somehow,
each fresh indignity they suffer brings the Griswolds closer together.
Reviewed by Intisab Shahriyar
