Vacation (2015): Movie Review
When this new “Vacation” was announced and that it would follow Rusty and his family, I instantly wished they would bring back either Anthony Michael Hall or Johnny Galecki from the previous films for the lead. It did make more sense for the part to be recast since no actor ever played Rusty or Audrey more than once. Ed Helms did seem like a logical choice and an obvious box office draw.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein, the guys behind the latest “Vacation” sequel clearly didn’t get why people love the original Chevy Chase led series. Clark Griswold and his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) absolutely loved each other and it showed. The two stars just had great chemistry. The same can’t be said for Ed Helms and Christina Applegate who plays his wife Debbie.
Rusty Griswold is now all grown up and an airplane pilot for an economy airline. He is married and has a couple children of his own. James (Skyler Gisondo) is the older brother who is kind of a dweeb. Kevin (Steele Stebbins) is the younger brother who enjoys nothing more than picking on his older brother. Each year Rusty takes his family on a trip to a remote cabin. Realizing that Debbie wants a change from the same routine, Rusty decides to take his family on a cross country road trip to Wally World. If you remember, that is the same trip Clark took his family on back in 1983.
To get this trip started, Rusty goes and rents a 2015 Tartan Prancer (touted as the Honda of Albania), which comes equipped with outdoor cup holders, car charging cable that won’t retract or charge in the United States, automatic rotating driver’s seat and a self destruct button. Oh yeah, this is perfect for a family road trip. While on the road, the Griswold’s get to enjoy the best of times with some excessive vomiting, soaking in human waste, being chased by a pedophile driving an 18 wheeler with a stuffed animal attached to its’ grill, and crashing into a cow at such a high speed while on a four-wheeler that the cow organs need to be washed off with a garden hose.
If you haven’t gotten the hint by now, this new “Vacation” is pretty mean spirited and resorts to crude humor to try and get laughs. Something the original films never had to do. The grossest thing in the first vacation was a dog peeing on a picnic basket. Leslie Mann is wasted here is Rusty’s sister Audrey and Chris Hemsworth as Audrey’s husband is able to deliver a one sold laugh with the help of a prosthetic penis. Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo return for what is essentially an extended cameo but by the time they show up on screen, it’s way too late. The ship has already sunk.
I would love to say that the only positive thing about “Vacation” (2015) is that it’s a sequel and not a remake but with something this awful I kind of wish it was a remake and not attached to the other films in any way. Yes, even “Vegas Vacation” is better than this crap.
By: Marc Ferman
