Movie review: Vacation

Adventure/Comedy

Rated – MA 15+

Duration –99mins

Release – August 2015

Director – John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein

Cast –Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Chevy Chase


Mr Knight

The key to success and enjoyment with a movie like this one is walk into the cinema with the lowest expectations possible so you can have one of two things when you leave. The first thing may be that the movie was terrible, which was on par with your expectations, so there is no disappointment. The second is, because your expectations are so low, you can be pleasantly surprised and in parts have a genuine laugh that you didn’t expect or see coming.

Vacation for me was actually the latter. I strolled in with Mrs Knight with super low expectations and found throughout I had a silly smile on my face and a few laughs to go with it.


Vacation is the story of Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), son of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), who is now grown up with a family of his own. Just like the wacky adventures of his father in the 80s comedies National Lampoon’s Vacation, Rusty decides to take his wife and two boys on a massive, across America, road trip to Walley World.


Rusty is a budget airline pilot with two dysfunctional teenage boys and a bored in her marriage wife (Christina Applegate) who needs that spark again. Rusty discovers the annual trip to his family cabin isn’t doing it for the others anymore and gets a great idea to do the road trip to Walley World.


To kick-start this disaster waiting to happen, Rusty hires what he believes to be the perfect road trip car for the job. The 2015 Tartan Prancer, known in this flick as “the Honda of Albania”. Fitted with two petrol tanks, a power cord with international fittings, side mirrors on the front and rear and a key with a variety of buttons including a hare, muffin and Nazi swastika, the car alone provides enough fun.


I am not always a fan of disaster movies where every decision made by our family ends in chaos, however Vacation manages to bring that chaos without trying too hard. The jokes can be hit and miss but where some flopped others brought a good laugh including the “what is a rim job?” chat between Rusty and eldest son James (Skyler Gisondo).

Vacation brings a variety of familiar faces and cameos including a “big membered” Chris Hemsworth, an always fun Leslie Mann, a wacky raft instructor Charlie Day, Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus as the scary trucker, Michael Pena as the crazy New Mexico cop and of course Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo as Clark and Ellen Griswold along with many others.


Ed Helms’ Rusty is a character with a good heart who is just trying his best for his family but simply can’t get it right. I am not usually an Ed Helms fan and found his character in The Hangover to be super annoying, however in Vacation I found him quite likable and someone to get behind.


My best advice for movie goers with Vacation. Don’t expect to be blown away and be putting this in your top ten favourite movies of all time. In fact don’t expect to ever see it again. But for a light-hearted fun story, with not much to think about, grab your popcorn and coke, sit back and enjoy.

 



Mrs Knight

I was never a fan of the National Lampoon series. I would have seen them as a child but they weren’t very memorable for me. I’m therefore reviewing this as a stand-alone film, not as a sequel to the National Lampoons. From the ‘hilarious’ preview of Vacation, I went in with absolute rock bottom expectations.


Rusty Griswold, is played by Ed Helms aka the annoying dentist from The Hangover series, who was surprisingly less annoying in this one. The adventure shows Rusty taking his family on a road trip to Walley World, in hope of reconnecting with his two sons and his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate).


On the journey they stumble across all kinds of problems. While it relies on cringe-worthy, problematic humour, that I usually hate, I found myself cracking up equally to rolling my eyes. There were a few groan-worthy moments, but it was a hell of a lot better than I thought it would be. Mr Knight made a good point that in moments where they were trying hard to do a funny gag, no one in the cinema laughed. But smaller passing-by comments made us all crack up.


I enjoyed the relationship of the family, and Christina Applegate was a delight to watch in the mum role. I was rooting for Rusty and enjoyed the family dynamics. I especially liked the scenes inside the car when they were fooling around with the music, singing Seals classic “kiss from a rose” and the difficulties with the foreign languages on the GPS.


I found the oldest son adorable and while the youngest was a little shit, I enjoyed his banter. I felt myself goofily grinning in anticipation every time they were on the screen. My favourite part had to be Chris Hemsworth’s cameo. I felt his character was fantastic and the simple repetition of the word “faucet” by this cheesy weatherman made me crack up.


The style and humour of the film reminded me a bit of We Are the Millers, but I enjoyed this more. Don’t expect the next Bridesmaids, The Hangover (the first one) or Horrible Bosses (again, the first one) but go in with an open mind and enjoy the ride.